Hollow of my Soul
by Yami-Nanaki
Summary: Mithos decides to change his plans a little...
1. Chapter 1

**Hollow of my Soul – Chapter 1**

It was cold, terribly cold.

Not because of the cool air of this night, floating in the room. Not because of the heavy rain, knocking a slow rythm on the cold glas of the window. No, it wasn't that.

Lonelyness made her body freeze. The empty mind blocking her thoughts. The pictures flashing in front of her eyes.

In the background she heard the soft snoring of her brother, sleeping and most likely dreaming. Genis tended to talk in his sleep. And again he seemed to dream about his friends, giggling and mumbeling their names. He was really cute doing that and he didn't seem to have any problems.

Raine walked over to his brother's bed, carefully pulling the cover over his shoulders so he won't be cold. Her little brother froze so easily.

Never before she would have thought their group would turn out to become this big like it was now. Even a little half-elf joined theim recently and she never imagined seeing her brother that happy in his our her entire life. Thinking about the threat they had to face, she was glad to see her beloved brother carless, playing, laughing, talking with his friends. Yes, his friends. Not theirs.

Sure, she was accepted in the group and she accepted them, enjoying their company, but that was it. Raine despised humans. No, not only humans. Humans and Elves alike. Both for destroying her life, her family, her whole being. The only reason she was still alive was her brother and the hope their journey gave her. When she first came to Sylverant, she was consumed by despair and she survived only so her brother could grow up in peace. That was also why she still was with the group, hoping for a world where her brother could live in peace.

But why, for Martel's sake, did she feel so empty?

The feeling came only slow, but from time to time it struck her, got her off-guard and took her over. It was really like a blokade, preventing her to think and sometimes when she was so close to an answer bothering her, that blockade locked up her mind and the answer sliped right through her hands. All because of that feeling.

The first time she realised that clearly was back in Exire where they found what was left of that pityfull woman Virginia. Her mother. Back then, Genis had to comford her, not the other way around like it should be. That was when she realised that Genis slowly grew up and not needing her anymore. Now being refused both caring for her brother and supporting their journey, she felt the lack of a purpose in her life.

Slowly, after putting on her orange coat, she walked out the room silently so she wouldn't wake Genis. Her way lead her outside of Altessa's house into the heavy rain, which became heavier during that time. It was hard to see through the close curtain of rain and the dark of the night, but she didn't mind. She just enjoyed the cold drops on her skin, but she also noticed her body shaking and freezing. The night itself was not very cold, only the rain was. She was freezing and her clothes quickly became soaking wet.

Like she mattered. Nothing mattered to her anymore. Genis was the one thing she thought she would never loose, yet he slowly slipped through her grip. Yet she was willing to let him go. He became an adult and soon would live his own life without her. Presea would take her place as the most important person in his life, so what other choice did she have but letting him go? Chaining him? No, she was happy seeing him becoming a fine young man, so did Lloyd and Colette became a pretty young woman.

Sighing softly she closed her eyes, feeling the rain dripping down her short silver hair, turning into bigger drops and crawling down her face, hands and her whole body. It glued her hair to her face.

Oh how she was enjoying this and how it teared her apart inside. Their journey that is. She enjoyed the rare moments they had, but it pained her that she was unable to make her part in this journey, to use her skills. Zelos and Regal took over a great part of healing, so there wasn't much need for her, made her feel even more useless when she already did.

Zelos... Raine found out about his motives and what he was going to do some time ago, but she wouldn't tell. She never told anything to anybody. Not that her and Genis were truely half-elves, not what was going on with Colette or that she was supossed to die for the sake of the world regeneration, not about Kratos, not about Mithos' true identity. Yes she knew. She knew it all along. She felt his specific mana, which not even he could hide, exermined his unique behaviour. There was no doubt about it. The only thing she was glad about was that Genis did not seem to feel his mana the way she did. Her brother has always been a bit insensitive for this subjects. It was the same with the elven-language she wanted to teach him, but he wouldn't listen to her because of the subjects he was more interested in, like magic and sorcery. So why bothering him with this? She could not tie him up and force him to learn it.

Also how was she supposed to tell him about his very first half-elf-friend he had in his entire life? That he was their archenemy and they had to destroy him? No way... He wouldn't believe her at al. She...

"Aren't you cold, Raine?"

The voice she heard behind her pierced through her mind, pulling her out of her trance. Raine turned around, looking into the green eyes of the half-elf she just thought about. What a twist of fate.

"Mithos..."

It was hard to see him in the darkness, but the faint aura of mana made her see him clearly. It was a cold, deep blue color, matching his personality. The aura was stronger for those with elvenblood, strongest for pure elves. That made it easy to decide if a person was a pureblood or a half-elf, but most weren't trained in seeing this aura.

"You should get inside or you'll catch a cold."

"I'm fine. But why are you still up? It's late."

Like usuall, Raine decided to pretend not to know about him and his true being, even though she did not know why he did what he did or why he decided to join them.

"I...", Mithos started. "I couldn't sleep and I saw you go outside. And I got worried so I came look for you."

The boy looked down into the gras, avoiding her glance.

"I thought you are going away on your own again."

"I have no reason to."

He went silent all of the sudden, but walked over to the female half-elf. It was strange, but he felt comfortable in her presence. She was so much like his dead sister, had the same strange look in her eyes. It was like Tabatha got his sister's body, Raine her soul and mind. But for him, the soul and mind were way more important.

"Are you alright, Raine?"

She seemed to be lost in thoughts again, something he noticed her doing a lot. A few seconds past, silent seconds where only the fall of the rain was heard.  
"Raine?", Mithos asked again, making her nearly jump as he touched her hand.

"What?"

Raine quickly looked down to the other one, crossing her arms then. A defensive stand she did when she did not want to tell her mind to others.

"It's nothing."  
"You always say that. I can see something troubles you."

After 4000 years he could tell what people thought, look through their minds, but she was special. Not only could he construe her mind, she was like an open book to him. Every action she made and every gesture. Everything made perfect sense for him and that made him feel conected to her. A feeling he thought he lost when his sister died.

Raine just looked down on Mithos, silently, then back up to the dark sky. Slowely, the rain stopped and the clouds opened up, releasing a beautiful view on the nightsky. The stars were shimmering, sparkling in their whole beauty, being the only source of light because of the new moon. In a few hours the cold light of the new morning would rip the darkness once again. The young teacher couldn't tell she if she liked the sunrise more than the night itself, but it didn't matter anymore. The last time she saw a view like this she was the man who made her the wreck she was now. Back then, she hated the sun rising because it ended the night, the most precious moment in her memory. Still it was followed by the most painfull one. Treason...

She felt her body shaking, but didn't know if it was because of the rain still dropping down from her hair, her clothes and her skin or because of the memory.

"I was just wondering", she said. Raine felt like she was silent for a few hours rather than a few minutes. No she won't be responsible for another treason. She wanted to know. "Wondering about if you can manage to tell the truth to Genis."

"The... truth? What truth?"

The professor smiled down to him.

"I think you know what I mean, Yggdrasiel."

Mithos felt his heart skip a beat.

She _knew_? But how? He was so carefull! But more important: why didn't she tell?

He forced himself to smile, but it didn't quite work out. His cover was blown.

"What do you mean? Who..."

"Don't play", she interrupted him. "I know who and what you are. Your mana revealed who you are."

Mithos stared down to his feet, went silent again. How could he even think that he was able to fool her? She was highly intelligent. But why didn't she step away then? He could simply kill her right now for discovering who he was.

"I'm not going to tell", he heard her saying, looking up into her blue eyes again.

"What?"

"You heard me, Yggdrasiel. I won't tell them. Genis won't believe me. I would only hurt him."

She was just thinking of Genis then. Mithos noticed early that she would die for that little silverhead if she had to. It remembered him of his own sister, who died for him. Still it confused him. He felt empty inside again.

"But... I don't understand."

Again he started staring at the gras rather than looking into her eyes. He couldn't stand that. Raine knew he was going to betray them, still she decided to stay quiet?

"Tell me, Mithos..." She called him by his first name again. "...why did you join us? You had no reason to."

The little half-elf went silent for a few seconds, thinking why he actually did it.

"I actually don't know." He knew there was no way he could lie to her again without her noticing. "Maybe I wanted to know why half-elves are travelling with humans."

Mithos shrugged a litte when Raine carfully touched his head, let her wet hand ran through his just as wet hair, making Mithos bite his tongue a bit. He enjoyed this touch more than he was willing to admit.

"They are his friends you know."

"His?", he asked, looking up to her again, still having her hand in his hair. Without noticing he stepped a bit closer to her. The gentle breeze made her shiver a bit, which didn't bother him because he didn't feel hot or cold at all. Raine sounded like she didn't think that she was part of the group.

"It may sound confusing, but Genis and Lloyd grew up together. They are best friends. And he is also close to Colette. Genis would acompany him to the end of the world."

It seemed like she avoided what he was going to ask...

"And what about you?"

"I swore to protect Genis and support him whenever I can."

So she really didn't think of herself as part of the group. After all she was a half-elf, so it was only natural she didn't have her fixed position in the group...

"You're really facinating."

Raine softly shook her head.

"No. Genis is the only family left to me, so if he is happy I am too. It's only natural. He is everything to me."

Just like Martel was for him, Mithos thought.

"But you don't seem to be very happy with that." She rather seemed to suffer under that, like she was in pain with what she was doing. Something troubled her mind, that was obvious. And for a long time to. Even when he was still traveling with the group, he noticed her having that specific look you have when you are not happy with the situation.

"I can't help him right now. But I don't think we should talk about that."

She avoided him. Well not surprising. He was her enemy after all. But still he felt the strange urge to help her. He didn't want her to suffer. For the first time after 4000 years he actually cared for someone different then himself, even if he didn't know why. Mithos wanted to be close to her. He didn't want to loose her.

Mithos often watched her sitting a few feet away from the group, writing down something in her notebook and sometimes it seemed she broke her brain thinking about the riddles they discovered throughout the day. Sometimes he really wanted to comfort her. Thinking of comfort, why couldn't she help Genis right now? Genis once told him Raine's most important skill was to think around the problem and get straight to the answer, which often helped them a lot...

"Have you trouble thinking or solving puzzles lately?"

She didn't answer him. So that must have been the point.

"Raine please. I can help you."  
"Why should you? Besides, if even I don't know what is blocking my mind, what makes you think you can help?"

She had a point there. But he would think of a way to remove her blockade. Actually, he found the solution already.

"Maybe I can not remove the cause, but I can still help you. The blockade you have is maybe just something that blocks the flow of your mana."

Irritated, Raine looked down to Mithos. He... could? Flow of mana? But how? She wouldn't let him lay hands on her, that was for sure.

"And why on earth should you do that."  
"Just take it as thanks for not telling anybody. I have to repay you somehow. Also I... I like you really much."

"I won't let you cast a spell on my."  
"I don't need to. I just..." He sighed. "Just stay here okay? I'll be right back."

He ran off before Raine could say a word. She saw him teleport after a few seconds, leaving her behind confused and kind of dumbfounded. What the hell just happened?

Instead of waiting, which took some time, she decided to go inside, silently, in order to change her still wet clothes. She still had some other clothes than that orange coat. The bad point of that: they were picked by Zelos. It was really sad that she actually liked what he picked out for her, but she never found an excuse for wearing it. It was picked by Zelos after all.

One day Zelos just came back to the group, some bags in his hands and smiling like there was no tomorrow. After asking why he was so happy he just answered that he got all (female) members of the group new clothes to "underline their beauty" or to quote him correctly "to point out the inner beauty of his beloved so they could bloom into never fading flowers" ... or at least something like that.

He got her a white, knee-long dress with some quillings and flower embroiderys. Also he got her a golden necklace and a fitting bracelet. The sandals were also white. After reaching her room, she changed into these clothes and hang her wet ones outside so they could dry when the sun was finally rising. What she was wearing was maybe more expensive than everything she possessed together, but it was sponsored by Zelos and he was the chosen. Most of the things he wanted he got for free. Not that he didn't have enough money anyway. But what he got her just was perfect for her. It made her appear female. Raine usually preferred trousers because it was easier to fight and move in with.

When she was outside again, she heard something inside. Through the window she saw Sheena, tired and a cup in her hand. It was still too early to get up, so she would definitely go to sleep again. Raine could only smile on that. The others always were really sleepy, also slept for a long time. Raine herself couldn't get a lot of sleep, had nightmares and got up earlier than the others so she could do some work before it got noisy again. She just couldn't calm down in the evenings, was too restless to sleep.

Footsteps cut her thoughts again, so she turned around and saw Mithos again.

Mithos, back from the Tower of Salvation, got a slightly confused look on his face when he saw Raine in that white dress and even his jaw dropped a little. She was indeed very beautiful. He didn't even notice their clothes were wet before, maybe because he wasn't feeling neither heat nor cold. The female's hair was still sparkling from a few drops in the light of the stars. She looked like an angel, innocent and pure.

Raine, guessing his thoughts and feeling uncomfortable that he stared at her that way, blushed a little.

"What are you staring at?"

Mithos approached her slowly, slightly embarrassed for staring at her for such a long time.

"I'm sorry. But... would you hold out your hand for a second?"

Raine hesitated, but did how she was told to. Carefully the small half-elf placed something he held in his hand in hers. It was cold, but the surface was smooth, the object itself very small. When he removed his hand she raised an eyebrow, Mithos for his part smiling brightly at her.

"It will help you calm down. It eases the flow of mana in your body and opens your mind."

"An exphere? But I already got..."

But wait. That twist of mana she felt around that stone. Could it be?  
"A Cruxis-crystal?", she said in slight shock.

"Most of my most valuable ones, too", Mithos answered proudly. "It's really old. But you have to put it closer to your heart on order to make it work instead of your thigh."

Under the dress it was clear where the professor wore her keycrest. Raine all of the sudden went quite angry.

"And what in the name of Martel makes you think I want to use that?"

Why was she so upset? He just tried to help, thought Mithos. He didn't do anything wrong.

"But I don't force you to use it. You can use it for whatever you like. For example for your research. After all it's yours now."

He knew that sooner or later Raine would equip herself with the crystal. He knew her curiosity by now and it would take her over. He watched her making a fist around the crystal, thinking apparently.

"Let's go inside. The others will get up soon."

She nodded and followed him inside. Raine left him in the main room, went to where Genis was still sleeping and putted the crystal in the small pocket where she kept research notes. Right now, she cursed herself for not throwing that thing away or at least give it back. But from the very beginning she was fascinated by those crystals. How they were able to change a persons whole body and being, how they give something in return in a way expheres could not, but at the same time take so much more. She wanted to know everything about the Cruxis-crystals, wanted to know how they worked.

Raine sat beside Genis on his bed, shook him softly.

"Genis. Come on wake up. It's time for breakfast."

Before she went in her room she had noticed Tabatha preparing breakfast and right now the whole house was filled with the scent of it. Her brother mumbled something about 'just five more minutes' and turned around, so she went back to the main room with the big table. Tabatha was schooling Mithos for being up and outside so late. For her it was even worse that he went wet down to his bones.

"I was with him, Tabatha. So he was not technically alone."

"It is still dangerous to be outside in the night."

"I know. But nothing happened, did it? He was only worried about me."  
The pupped smiled a little, then went back into the kitchen. She brought some coffee for the professor, but before the others showed up, Raine went outside to see the sunrise. She heard the others inside, more or less sleepy, but definitely loud, laughing. It seemed that Zelos made a stupid comment again. Sheena screamed and was chasing him in the house.

Mithos came outside and stand beside her, then sat beside her feet. For him it was too loud inside. Raine, the cup in her hands, looked down at him, smiling a little. He seemed to be relaxed and not aggressive at all. She hated to admit it, but she liked him. And she liked him a lot. He was so much like Genis...

Her attention went back to the sun which was about to rise. The first rays of light made the mist sparkle like a see of diamonds and a light breeze was playing with their hair. The view was really pretty. It was like a new beginning. Again she thought of why Mithos was so peaceful in her presence. He really seemed to care for her giving her a Cruxis-crystal. She knew how difficult it was to create a crystal.  
"Let's get inside. I'm starting to get hungry", Raine said and looked down to Mithos. He smiled again and got up, followed her back inside. Just as she shut the door behind her, she heard Zelos.  
"OH RAINE My gorgeous magnificent cool nymph you just look stunning, my love."

"Wow professor. You look pretty", said Colette.

"Thank you", the half-elf said with a half smile. Getting compliments from Zelos, she was used to, but also the others seemed to like what she was wearing. She sat beside her little brother and he leaned over to her.

"Raine? Why are your wearing Zelos' clothes?"

"Because she now realized what a gentleman I am getting her those", Zelos said in his flirting voice when he got beside her. Raine's answer was a step on Zelos' foot which made him scream in pain as he sat down next to her.

"But Raine~", he whined.

"My clothes are still drying and because I can't walk around naked I decided to put this on."

Zelos started a comment again, but got hit by Raine again.  
"OUCH."  
"Don't you dare say anything."

Genis decided to interfere.

"Well, sis, you definitely look wonderful."  
Raine smiled warmly at him and he back to her.

"Thank you, Genis."

Mithos, standing in the door to his room, looked over to them. Raine was really beautiful, but she never would give him this warm smile he desired so much when he complimented her. It was only meant for her brother, and for him alone. For some reason, he was jealous...

He wanted this sisterly comfort. He wanted that smile. He wanted her to be his.

Looking away he went into his room, leaving the room and let the others have their breakfast. Meanwhile a new idea formed in his mind. After he found out that Yuan was about to betray him, for Yuan being the leader of the Renegates, he leaked one Seraphim...


	2. Chapter 2

It was not until a few days later that the small group continued their journey to the next seal, which was the Seal of Shadows. Since they were not able to get back to Sylverant in order to make pacts with the summon spirits there, they decided to finish with the ones in Tethe'alla first. But they all hoped the people of Mizuho were able to find their rheairds soon. It took much longer travelling by foot than using their machines to fly.

Somewhere close to Sybak they decided to rest up on a cliff where they had a full view of their surroundings. It was much saver if they had the opportunity not to be ambushed since the church of Martel and the king's knights were still looking for them for treason. Still they all had their own reasons not to like this place for a rest at all. Lloyd and Genis were hungry because they ate all of the food which was meant to be for one week in less than three days, so they weren't allowed to have more than a certain amount of food. Sheena and Regal took over the most nightwatches for their journeys, so they would have appreciated a bed to rest since they were so close to a city after days of travelling in the Gaoracchia Forest and the open field. Zelos was always uncomfortable without luxury and a big bed, so he was the one arguing the most the whole journey, but the group got used to that. Presea and Colette weren't really upset about they resting place, once because of Presea's quiet nature, second for Colette's cheerful and never-really-upset-character, but both of them would have preferred a bed over the cold earth.

Raine's reason however was much more personal. Of all of the cities in this world she despised Sybak the most, even more than Heimdall, surprising even for her. After she remembered most of what happened before her and Genis reached Sylverant, with a little 'help' from the person in Exire, she knew the reason why she hated humans so much: the so called scholars from Sybak. Those filthy creatures chased them, hunted them down like animals just because she had this 'talents'. The talent to be perfect, which she wasn't. But the humans believed her to be. Even today most of the people around her considered her to be perfect in every possible way. She once asked Genis how he sees her and the answer was really disturbing for her.

"_I think you're perfect, sis"_, he said.

"_And why is that? I'm curious."_

"_Well you're kind, you always see what people think and you can react to it. You always care and you are so smart...",_ and so on, and so on.

Back then she was flattered, but rethinking it, she wasn't any of this. By keeping most of the things she knew to herself, consider this being a LOT, she was practically making sure the people around her got hurt, even if it was unavoidable in the first place. She never really cared if it wasn't necessary or profitable for her. She thought of herself as kind of cruel. Maybe that's why she never developed her black magic further. This magic she was able to use was one more reason why the scholars of Sybak so desperately wanted to capture her. But after they arrived in Sylverant she swore to herself that she would never ever use it again so she started to concentrate on healing arts. It was all to protect Genis, everything she did.

They group was able to make a small fire where they all had a very small meal, so they all were a little displeased about the hunger they still had. Mostly Lloyd, Zelos, Genis and Sheena were complaining, but it wasn't like they had a choice so they more or less held back.

"So WHY aren't we going inside the city again?", Zelos asked, his arms crossed behind his head and leaning against a stone.

"Because they search for us and it would be too dangerous, stupid", Sheena said as she laid down to the ground.

The chosen sighted softly as he watched over to the city, which was merely 10 minutes away from where they rested. It was slightly sparkling from the lights in the houses, making it appear more peacefully when it was at daytime. During the day, all the scholars and pupils ran around like crazy, mostly close to the academy, but still hasty. Well not as hasty as in the capital or Towns like Altamira of course. Zelos liked the lively life, the parties, the joy of life. That's why he hated the title of chosen, well not hated, but getting tired of it. Everyone was always telling him about destiny and that was even more annoying. They said he was the child of an angel, even knowing that this was not true, but they continued to talk crap like this. He looked over to Raine as she got up, a book and the small pocket of notes in her hand. The half-elf looked kind of confused lately, even thou she was totally different once she started working and concentrating on that book of hers. No one really knew what was inside of that, but he knew that it was important, so she would never tell it to anyone. It was elven-language she wrote in there, so no one really understood what it said even if they got their hands on it.

"Where are you going, beauty?", he asked, smiling at her.

"I just want to be for myself a while."  
Then she left into a small forest which was basicly just a few trees, but still it hid the half-elf-woman pretty well. He could only guess what she was going to do, but most likely thinking over that Cruxis-crystal again. He knew that Mithos gave her one because he told him to watch after her while Mithos wasn't around. Zelos didn't mind that at all because he liked Raine a lot, but the problem was that she didn't want him around even if he tried, so he just stayed on his spot. She said she wanted to be alone, so he decided to look after her after the others had gone to sleep. What bothered him was the task given to him. He had to talk Raine into equipping the crystal without actually talking about it. How on earth was he supposed to do that? It's not like he could just walk up to her saying 'Oh yeah and that Cruxis-crystal you got? Mithos told me that you should equip it.' He wasn't THAT dump...

"I'll take over the nightwatch, okay?", the redheaded man said, looking into confused faces.

"Now that's new. Usually you avoid that", Genis told him surprised.

"Well I'm not tired and I can't sleep on this dirty rock. Might as well stay up."

A few feet away the half-elf-woman sat down on a stone and looked around one more time to make sure she wasn't followed and there were no monsters around before she pulled out the little crystal out of the pocket of her coat. She stopped keeping it with her notes.

At first she didn't know what to do with it. Destroy it, keep it, research it, equip it... there were so many possibilities, but always she felt uncomfortable. Just having it in her hand, looking and examine it made her feel the effect this simple stone had on her, much stronger than the exphere she had equipped. But what made her even more upset is that Mithos was right. It DID let her minds go more easily, removed that blockade she had temporary until she put it out of her hands. Up to this point she wrote down everything she could about it without the proper equipment of course. She easily wrote down three pages just about the Cruxis-crystal while she held the crystal in her hands. She still needed an excuse for herself to keep it, so she forced herself to find something new about this just in order to keep it. But the more she thought about it, the more she realised the seduction this stone had on her. If it had this effect on her while she just held it in her hand, what could she do if she actually equipped it? Would she get to answers even more quickly? Mithos told her in a keycrest she wouldn't have any side-effects, but would she get angelpowers like Colette? What about her powers? Would they increase or stay the same?

So many questions racing through her head and she couldn't even tell anyone. Usually she spoke with someone about it, not expecting them to understand her line of thoughts, but she used that opportunity to sort her thoughts. But now, no one was allowed to know she had that. Because if they knew she had to tell them everything. About Mithos, about Zelos, about Kratos and all the other things she kept in her mind. Silently sealed away so they couldn't harm anyone.

Raine opened her book, putted the crystal on one of the pages and looked at it for a while. It was really beautiful. Hard to believe these things were alive. Well they actually weren't, but still they were beings. It was so much more complicated. For giving them the wearers heart and soul, their whole being, Cruxis-crystals gave so much. Power, a clear mind, time and so many other things she longed for. It would be so easy to just equip it, but was it worth it? If she would, wouldn't that be treason as well?

She bit her lower lip. Traitors. There were a lot of them lately, but she promised to herself that she would not cheat on her friends... well... more like she wouldn't cheat on Genis. If she told him something, she was always honest. Instead of being a liar she preferred to keep information to herself. It's not like they had to know she was wearing a Cruxis-crystal instead of an exphere...

"Hi there, beautiful. What are you doing?"

Raine nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Zelos' voice and quickly hid the crystal in her pocket as unnoticed as possible. Why was she always disturbed that way?

"What is it, Zelos?"

She didn't really wanted him around. Who knew what he would might do to her. He was working for Mithos after all, but she wasn't so sure if he knew that she noticed. Also she didn't like his childish behaviour, the way he treated woman as if they were just toys. Well except his little sister of course.

"You were gone for quite some time. Care if I join you?"

Actually she did want to say yes, but maybe a little company wasn't so bad. She still had hopes for him not being a pervert or a traitor, but the chances were small. She offered him the place beside her as she closed her book.

Zelos sat down and looked around for a second before looking at Raine, who preferred to look up into the night sky. Raine went away from the group for quite some time and because the others, except Genis, who was still worried about his sister, already went to sleep. He told the little half-elf he would go for a walk and to look for Raine so he had to watch over the others while he was gone. It was just an excuse for making him stay away while he talked to Raine.

After some time of silence he sighted and also looked up into the stars. He didn't like this silence, so he decided to start some small-talk.  
"Sooo~", he started, tilting his head on the side and watching her closely. "What exactly were you doing?"

"Just thinking a bit."  
"About what?"

"It's new to me that you are interested in that."

Damn it, why was this woman so complicated? Usually all women opened up to him and he just had to look at them and they would tell him their darkest secrets just to get his attention. Raine was different. It was impressive how she managed to treat everyone equally, even if he didn't like the idea being put on the same level as Lloyd. He wasn't a kid anymore like he was.

"I'm just asking. You really pull back the last couple of days. Something troubling you?"

She looked at him puzzled as if she was about to say 'YOU of all people noticed?'

"Oh come on. Don't give me that look. I always care for such wonderful beauties as you are."  
"Zelos don't make me hit you."

"I'm just trying to be nice~", he said whimpering while trying his famous puppy-eyes-technic, which he knew wouldn't work, but he tried anyways.

The young woman sighted softly. She never expected Zelos, the ignorant, self-centered, most egoistic person she knew to ask for her feelings. She was a half-elf after all and Zelos was famous for disliking her kind. On the other hand he was known to flirt with every female who wasn't up the trees at three. She was only distracted that he didn't use his flirting voice on her up to now and she hoped he wouldn't.

"I just don't feel so well. Nothing troublesome."

She half-smiled at him and hoped he would buy it. She wasn't really on to talking about everything to him, but maybe she could use this chance to find out a bit about Zelos' motives, but most of all his Cruxis-crystal. He still gave her a 'I don't believe you'-kind-of-look.

"Listen it's nothing. But anyway. Can I ask you something?"

Now she really managed to avoid his questions and his intentions completely. Just great... This was going to be a long night if he wanted to achieve anything.

"Well sure. Go ahead."

How bad could it be? Well he saw her being in slight discomfort, but it couldn't be anything life-changing, could it?

"How does it feel like wearing a Cruxis-crystal? I asked Colette about it, but... well you know her by now. She isn't really serious about this matters and I need it for my research."

Last question he expected, so his jaw dropped a little, but he closed his mouth again before she noticed. Okay now he wasn't allowed to make mistakes or else Yggdrasiel was surely going to hurt him. He grinned and let himself lean again the solid stone.  
"It's really nice. I had an exphere once, but I definitely prefer the crystal."  
"Why is that?"

"Because you can get a lot out of it depending how much you are willing to offer."

"I see. So depending how much you offer you gain different powers, am I right?"

"Pretty much, yes. It also depends on how strong you are and if you are able to resist the crystals powers."

"What does that mean?"  
"Let's pretend you are willing to give up your need of sleep and your hunger you gain power from the crystal equally to what you sacrificed. If you offer your senses as well you gain more."

"I understand..."

She seemed to be deep in thought again, staring down at the floor and gripping her book tightly. He could only guess what was going on in her mind, which was surely a lot knowing the professor, but he decided to go on with some random facts he got from Yggdrasiel.

"As far as I know you can actually decide how much you offer. The chosen pray at the altars throughout the world and give up part of their humanity willingly and gain angelic powers instead. Cruxis has not actually something to do with it I guess. It's just the decision of the chosen to sacrifice everything for the world. That's also the reason why so many seem to fail after some time."

Raine smiled a little, closing her eyes for a second. It seems he told her just what she wanted to hear. Of course he hid that it also depended on the power and age of the Cruxis-crystal itself how much is offered. Old crystals were much more powerful and dangerous than the one he was using. That was most likely the reason why Yggdrasiel was so mighty. Not only had he an old crystal, he also sacrificed everything possible.

Raine was convinced, but he didn't need to know that. If she could decide how much she offered then there was no reason not to equip the crystal. It was for research purposes after all. She wouldn't do it before Zelos of course.

"That really helped. Thank you."

"Now just give me a kiss for that, okay?", Zelos said, grinning like the idiot he could be. Raine punched his arm so he fell down the stone and landed in the grass.  
"Ow~ That hurts."

"For a second I was just thinking how nice it is to talk to you seriously", she answered, looking down to him as she put the book with the notes beside her.

"I just hoped it would work", he whimpered while doing his puppy-eyes again.

"You should know by now that it doesn't."  
She tilted her head to the side, a little confused as she saw him smiling at her as he sat up.

"I'm sorry about that. Old habits die hard. But I'm glad it doesn't work on you."

"And why is that?", she asked him while he let himself fall into the soft grass, looking up to the stars.

"Don't know. Maybe it makes a difference."

Sometimes Zelos got bored by how easily women were attracted to him. Raine was different from them. Well most of the women in their group was, but they most of the time preferred smacking him, like Sheena did, hurt his feelings and throwing him off-guard, like Presea tended to do, or just being completely naive, like Colette was.

Surprisingly for him Raine lay down beside him after another period of silence. He didn't mind at all for a little company. He looked over to her for a second just to follow her look up to the sky again.

"Did you know", she then started. "that Sylverant and Tethe'alla share the same sky?"

"No, really?"

Again he looked over to her and she looked back. Zelos was never particularly interested in this stuff, but Raine had the special ability to even make paint drying sound interesting.

"They do. The dimensions are only shifted up to a certain point. The places with the most concentrated mana connect the two worlds."  
"Like the tower of salvation and the otherwordly gate?"

"Exactly. See those three bright stars? These in the triangle."

She pointed up to the sky and showed him the stars. It took a while, but he finally found the stars she meant.

"They also exist in Slyverant, but on the exact other side. Slyverant and Tethe'alla are like a mirror to each other."

"I thought it's more like an hourglass."  
"That's correct if you talk about the mana-suply."

Raine rolled on her front side so she could look at him clearly and started explaining what she found out about the two worlds, or at least her theories. He pushed his upper body up so he could listen to her more clearly, but he sometimes got distracted by... let's say more important things while she talked. He couldn't get around noticing how her eyes sparkled while she was talking about his theories. Cute somehow. Also all confusion he noticed was gone with a blink.

"Zelos? Zelos are you even listening to me?"

He blinked and looked at her confused.  
"I'm sorry. What did you say?"

"I said maybe we should go back. You look pretty tired."

He chuckled softly and they got up.

"Yeah a little. We should definitely repeat that. It's fun listening to you."  
"If you want to. But under one condition."  
"That is?"  
"Don't act like a jerk around me. I don't want to hit you every minute."

"As you wish, love."  
"And let's stick to Raine, loverboy."  
"Only if you have a nice nickname for me", he said as he leaned over to her, smiling at her.

"How about futile, ignorant, persisting, foolish little pervert?"

"In that case... let's stick to Zelos."

He scratched his head as he turned around on his heel and started to go back to the others. Raine wasn't following him so he looked to her over his shoulder.

"Are you coming?"

"I just... I need to write down something real quick before I forget it. Go on ahead without me."  
Zelos could imagine what she was going to do and it was certainly not writing down an information. He was just fine with that.

"Alright but don't take too long or I'll hurry back in a second."

"Sure, sure."

Raine looked after Zelos as he went out of the woods, back to the camp before she sat down on the stone again. She really enjoyed his presence if Zelos was actually acting like a person and not like a moron. She couldn't remember any time since he joined them that he kept quiet for this long. By the time being she had to thank him for that. The information she gave him weren't really important and Zelos seemed more interested in her body than her words, but she didn't mind that. She just wanted her mind to let go of all the problems she tried to solve at once at least for a short time. But now she had to get back to them.

Carefully she took out the crystal from her pocket and also the keycrest with the exphere in it from her thigh. For some time she looked back and forth between the both crystals. The Cruxis-crystal had a very unique, deep red and blue-ish like color while the exphere hat the typical red, like candy in some way, but much more sparkling. It would be okay, right? For her to try out the crystal? She could take it of at any time if she wanted to, thanks to the keycrest she luckily possessed. Also Zelos told her that she could decide about how strong the crystal would hook up to her.

After a few more considerations she took out the exphere and slid in the Cruxis-crystal. She opened up the upper buttons of the blouse she wore under the orange coat to expose her collarbone. Raine decided to wear the crystal under her normal clothes. No one needed to know. She attached the keycrest to her bare skin and almost immediately she felt the crystal getting attached to her body's mana. She was out of breath for a second because she never imagined it to be so intense... But aside from that she didn't really feel any different. Well what did she expect? That it would take effect immediately? No it would take some time.

Raine put back the exphere into the pocket with her notes before closing her blouse and taking her book plus notes before she went back to the camp.

"Sis is everything alright?", Genis asked as she arrived at the fire.

"Of course. Why are you asking?"

"You look a little pale."  
"I'm just tired. And you should go to sleep, too."

She looked over the Zelos who was standing at the edge of the cliff to overlook the area. Raine lay down and Genis crawled closer to her.

"Can I sleep beside you? I'm cold."

The half-elf-woman smiled and pulled Genis closer to hug him as she lay down on the ground.

"Sleep well Genis."  
"You too sis. I love you", he wispered silently.

"I love you too", she said silently before closing her eyes, only feeling her brother's warmth. She really loved her little brother and she would do anything to protect him. She only lived for her brother...


	3. Chapter 3

When Raine woke up it was already shining bright and she felt an empty spot by her side. It seemed that Genis already got up and so were the others. Strange. Usually she was the very first one to wake up and usually she was working until the others finally found the strength to push themselves up. Slowly she opened her eyes and the sun was burning, so she closed them again quickly and pushed her upper body from the hard and cold ground. She felt dizzy and sick.

"Good morning, Professor Sage", she heard Lloyd and looked up to him. She had to blink a few times until she finally saw him clearly.

"Good morning, Lloyd", she answered, sat up on her knees and held her head, felt her forehead in order to check if she was running a fever, but it didn't seem like that. But still it was quite wet. She must have been sweating while sleeping.

"Are you alright? You look kinda pale."

"I just feel a little sick. That's all. Nothing drastic."

Slowly she got up and looked around. Regal was preparing breakfast, Genis, Presea and Colette were down by the river, Zelos and Sheena had an argument, as usual.

"You're sure?", Lloyd interrupted her thoughts and looked over to the older woman. She didn't look fine at all. Also Genis said she was shivering during her sleep. Maybe she had a nightmare?

The swordsman wasn't really sure if his teacher was ignoring him on purpose or was just distracted, but she looked around again and seemed to be lost in thoughts. Something all of them noticed lately, even Lloyd himself. "Maybe you should lay down some more."

"That won't be necessary", she said, still looking down to the river. So she did hear him after all. "We need to go on."

"Sure, sure", he said, scratching his cheek, grinned. That's more like he knew her. "But first let's eat."

A keyword it appeared. In the matter of seconds the whole group got together and Regal dealt out breakfast to everyone. It wasn't much, but enough to stop hunger. Raine looked down on her plate, feeling her qualm rising so she put it away before she was about to throw up.

"Sis? Are you okay?"

Genis sat down beside her and looked worried at her. It took the professor some seconds to actually realize him, even though she heard him loud and clearly. Her mind was just slow for some reason, more blocked than before. On the other hand her thoughts were rushing through her, but they were completely out of context, jumping from one place to another. The one moment she thought about the effects their pacts with the summon spirits might have on this world, the next she was solving complicated equations she was thinking about for weeks in the back of her head. It was like she was concentrated on the problems she was thinking about, shutting of her mind to everything else.

Genis was really worried about his sister. She was pale and he could see some sweat on her forehead. Also she seemed so absent, even more like usual. He was used to take a few tries getting her attention, but she surely noticed him already, heard him. After all he saw her reaction towards him, but she snapped back and seemed to drift away again. Carefully he took her hand, nearly jumping while doing it. She was cold, too cold and was shaking.

"Raine!", he called her again and she finally looked straight at him, pulling back her hand.

"I heard you the first time, Genis", she said. Not angry or anything, but more monotonous than he was used to. The little magician knew that his sister tended to become sick, however she never admitted it and pushed herself until she blackened out. Though he usually didn't notice her being sick up to that point. Raine had the ability to hide such things really carefully, yet she failed to do it now. So it had to be serious.

The professor bit her tongue hard until she tasted her own blood. It hurt, sure, but she didn't really feel it through her distraction in her mind. Even she had to admit she wasn't fine, but the others didn't need to know. Throughout their journey she successfully hid all of her sicknesses, containing some fevers, some colds and various other sicknesses.

"You should eat. You're still growing after all", she schooled her little brother, smiling to him, but he still looked up to her and tilted his head a bit. "I'm alright. I just had a bad dream."

She lied of course. Her sleep went on dreamless but right now she was terribly cold. Genis then went on eating. He knew that arguing with her was useless. Raine tended to change the subject so quickly that not even her brother noticed it and then the first problem was forgotten. She would just stay where she was right now, watching the others eat and trying to focus her thoughts.

Some time later the group decided to continue on and to get to the next summon spirit as quickly as possible. Zelos, still tired and grumping about his hurting back, decided to distract himself a bit.

"Sheeeeenaaaaa", he cried out and hugged her from behind, just to get smacked by her... again.

"Zelos not this early! Can't you stay off of me for five minutes?"

"But honeyheart your killerbody has to be touched", he answered with a smirk and leaned forward to her, but quickly dodged another hit from the assassin. It was the only kind of attention he would ever get from her, but he was fine with that, as long as he got attention at all. Most of the group ignored his behavior and because he didn't like being ignored he preferred to get hit. Sheena being a girl after all wasn't very strong so the pain didn't last for a long time.

"Come on you two. We want to go", Lloyd called to them. He, Presea with Genis by her side, Regal as her all-time companion and Colette were already waiting a few foot ahead. Raine was still sitting on the small rock she was sitting an all morning.

"I'll get the professor", he told Sheena. "Then I'll come after you. Don't miss me too much, will ya?"

"Don't get any ideas, Zelos", the assassin warned him before going to Lloyd and the rest of the group.  
"Me? What do you think of me?"  
But she didn't really hear him, so the aristocrat went to the female half-elf, leaned down to her. Man she wasn't looking well at all.

"Are you alright?"

"I hear the same question all morning and my answer will always be the same: YES I'm alright", she said kind of aggressive, making the chosen jump back a little.

"I'm sorry my cool beauty." He didn't believe her. It was obvious that she felt terrible. He held his hand out to her. "Then come on we need to go on."

As he expected she rejected his hand and pushed herself up on her own. For a few seconds she was trying to balance on her feet, but fell over and right in his arms anyway. He got her just before she was falling to the ground.

"Raine!"

The rest of the group noticed her collapsing and ran over to the two of them. Zelos got on his knee so he could easily hold the unconscious woman in his arms. She was shaking even more than before and the cold sweat was standing on her forehead. Something else was strange, even if he couldn't tell what it was.

"Sis! Come one!", yelled Genis, softly shaking his sister's arm.

"She passed out. We can't move her like that", the chosen one said, carefully laying her on the ground and her head in his lap. He knew only little about healing and healing arts, but as far as he could see she wasn't seriously injured.

"Dammit", said Lloyd, biting his bottom lip. "We need to get her to a doctor."  
"And what about the summon spirit? If Cruxis gets ahead of us we are in trouble."

Sheena had a point there. They had no time to waste. So Zelos interfered once more.  
"Then why don't we split up? I know a few people in Sybak and I should find a place where she can rest."

"I'm going with my sister!"

"We are all staying Zelos", Lloyd said once again. "Professor Sage is our friend after all."  
"We can't go into the city if we are so many!", the aristocrat said angrily. "And as Sheena said we don't have any time. I take care of her and we will follow you when she is better."

He felt the professor moving and she sat up, still shaking and breathing heavily.

"There's no need... I'm okay", she said while holding her head. "I just need to move a little bit..."

"You are not moving anywhere, professor", Regal finally said. "You are ill and you will only make it worse if you push yourself too hard." Then he looked over to Lloyd. "We should do as Zelos suggested. They will be careful around the chosen, so she should be in no danger."

This was better than expected. Zelos actually just wanted to separate the group so they wouldn't notice the Cruxis-crystal Raine should have equipped by now. Also he could make sure she stayed away from Mithos, who was still after her. Genis was sitting in front of Raine, hugged her and got close to her. He seemed very worried.

Raine sighed softly, let her hand ran through her little brother's hair. She didn't want to be left behind, even less making everyone worry. But she had to admit that Zelos was right. She wasn't any help right now, a feeling she didn't like at all. She needed to become better as quickly as possible.

"Can you stand?", Zelos asked her and Genis pulled back. She tried to get up, but she fell back on her knees. She felt dizzy and weak. She heard, more like felt Zelos get close to her and pulled her on her feet, acting in a backup and holding her up.

"Let's go, beautiful. We don't want this to get any worse."

"I swear Zelos if something happens to her I'll fry you personally", Genis said and Zelos rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, I got that. Now beat it."

The group continued to stay on the same spot and watched him and Raine walking towards Sybak. The professor seemed to black out any moment again, so he more or less dragged her instead of supporting her.

"Liar", she said after some time after the group could not hear them anymore.

"What do you mean?"

"You can't... get us into the city, can you?"

If he could they wouldn't have stayed outdoors for the night. Zelos usually did everything just to get a bit of luxury. She knew how much he hated to stay outside at night for sleep.

"Not really..."

Weakly she looked up to him. Up to now she couldn't really see straight as if her eyes tried to focus something that wasn't there or in the far distance. She got distracted by moving objects, even small ones like moving leaves and grass. Also the wind was very loud that it pained her ears.

"So... what are you going to do?"

She only spoke very silent, because her own voice hurt her and it was quite hard for her to breathe.

"Well I can't get us through the front door, but there is usually a back entrance."  
He grinned again and picked her up the floor, holding her in her arms. It was mostly welcome though she wasn't able to stand anymore anyway. She could no longer deny that she was sick.

He actually hoped that she would pass out again or at least fall asleep, so he could fly them over the city walls and go to a small house he used when he was still at university. It was still his and quite comfortable. She should be able to rest there until the crystal's effects faded away.

Zelos wondered why the effects were so drastic, but the only explanation he could think of was that she was more sensitive to the mana-changing caused by the crystal. She was a half-elf after all.

Raine was still awake and her mind was rushing again. She was thinking of how Zelos wanted to get them into the city. There were no sewers like in Meltokio, which they used to get into the city. Unless...

"You're going to fly?", she asked after they got close to the city, looked up to Zelos again, but still wasn't able to see them clearly. She felt, heard his breath stop for a second and his heart began to race. So he wasn't expecting her to know?

Zelos went silent and stood on the same spot for a few seconds. Dammit. He knew that she saw through Mithos like an open book, but he was more careful, wasn't he? Seems that he wasn't.

"So you know?", he asked her, even though he knew the answer already.

"You really think I don't?"

He laughed sightly.

"I should learn not to underestimate you. But how?"

"I saw you talking to Pronyma at Altessa's house. You're not very careful."

Zelos sighed softly and carried her around the city so no one was able to see them. It would be fatal if someone in Tethe'alla found out that the chosen was already an angel. And yet he wasn't. All he had were the wings and the basics of being an angel. Zelos wasn't ready nor did he want to sacrifice anything of his humanity. He enjoyed being a human way too much. But the moment his Cruxis-crystal touched his skin, he got his wings and all the different things, which come with an exphere as well. Carefully the aristocrat looked around to check if there were some people around before he concentrated and his crystal began to glow slightly.

The moment Zelos spread his wings she could feel it, even though her eyes were closed and her mind was drifting away. She already felt better, but the dizziness was still there. The syndromes seemed to fade away as quickly as they came. Zelos was bound to know that, so why did he suggest to separate? Then again... maybe it was safer, especially for her. She didn't know what further effects the crystal would have on her since she let the crystal into her mana willingly and still felt it there. It pained her a lot, but since she saw Colette suffering way much than she did right now, it wasn't that difficult. And also she was just willed to sacrifice two things instead of her whole humanity, as far as she was human that means.

Raine felt a slight lift as the chosen let his wings flap and they softly floated over to the other side of the wall.

The chosen wasn't very happy about how the conversation slipped out of hands, so he just decided to stay silent until he could think of something. Also his priority was to get Raine to his home so she could rest. When he equipped his crystal, he was sick for two days and, thinking of the fact that he had the same keycrest as Colette, this was really long. But he was more concerned that the rest of the group could find out about Raine's crystal. Mithos told him that her keycrest might not be strong enough for a Cruxis-crystal as old as the one he gave the professor. If it wasn't, then, so did Mithos tell him, the angelic powers would show at least once without Raine wanting it. This included the wings. If that happened, the group would make her unequip it and all of his plans would be ruined. Lloyd may was naive, but not THAT dump. He would find out that he took part in convincing her to equip it and through that may find out about his plans. Plus Mithos would punish him hard. The little half-elf wanted the professor really badly as far as he could tell, even if he wasn't sure how he was going to separate her from Genis.

Just a few minutes later the two of them, more like Zelos still carrying Raine, entered the 'small' mansion. It was not as big as the one the chosen owned in Meltokio, but still one of the largest the professor has ever seen. Since it started to rain, the two of them were quite wet and some drops went down of Zelos' cheek and dropped on Raine's face. She was shivering and she was cold, but still hold on to the chosen's warm body as far as she could. Her lightheadedness faded away slowly and also her dizziness was almost gone.

"I think I can walk", she said quietly. She didn't want to be so close to somebody longer than she had to. A lesson she learned just some time ago.

"You sure? I don't want you to collapse again."

"I said I'm fine. Let me down."  
"Everything you say, beautiful."

Slowly he let her down, still hold her until she was able to stand straight. Now that the warmth was gone, she froze even more, but hid it as far as she could. The professor looked around.

Everything was in red and gold, but it was a soft red so it wasn't as aggressive as it should be. A few pictures hanged on the wall and a few flowers stood in their vases on the bookshelves or the tables. Thinking that Zelos didn't seem to come here often, the place was in a really good shape. Then she recognized one of the picture, the largest one. It was the picture of Zelos' mother.

Zelos watched the half-elf closely, afraid that she could fall over any moment again. As she stared in one direction he checked what she was looking at. Sadness flowed through his body, but he hid it like he always did.

"It's a very pretty picture", he heard Raine say and looked to her again as she watched him. A few seconds he went silent before he smiled.

"I think you should change clothes. I should have some around here. Why don't you wait upstairs? It's the fifth room to the right."

So he was avoiding her. Well that was fine with her. After all she knew how it felt like to loose family. She still had her brother, but he was slipping away more and more...

Raine just nodded and carefully made her way towards and up the stairs. The fifth room to the right... easier said than done. Her view tended to become blurry and made it difficult to count up to three. She lay one hand on the soft red wall and let it slid across it and the doors as she counted them and finally found the room. As she stood in front of the door she looked down on her hand, blinked slightly. It was easy for her to feel the doors itself, but shouldn't she be able to tell if it was wood or not? After all she could smell the high quality wood, but it didn't feel like wood at all. But maybe the quality was just too good to feel the actual wood, so she entered the room without wasting a second thought about it.

The inside was just as beautiful as the rest of the house and much like the ones in Meltokio. Big, with a canopy bed in the middle... wait this was no guests room. A lot of Zelos' personal stuff were scattered all over the place. Sure it was tidy, but there were some pictures of him as a little child with his mother, some with Seles (at least she thought it was his sister) and some of him as grown-up. Talking about a self-loving-person. All of these pictures included Zelos.

"You like it?", she heard from behind and turned around. She caught herself standing close in front of the desk with the pictures.

"If you want to I can sign you one so you can keep it in your pocket."

"Don't push it Zelos. Why do I need to stay here?"  
"Well you don't need to, but the guests room are pretty much dusty and I want you to feel comfortable."

"You don't even like me, so why do you let me stay in your personal surrounding?"

The chosen looked puzzled for a second. 'Don't even like me'? What was that supposed to mean?

"What gave you that kind of idea?"

"Don't play dump Zelos. You hate half-elves. And in case you didn't know: I am one."

Oh so that was the point. Sure he didn't like half-elves, but he liked Raine for... well being Raine. She was one of the very few females he knew that did not fall on their knees just for him to look at them. This made her desirable for him. Sheena wasn't really a challenge. If he wanted, he could have her at any time. Even though she always pretended that she hated him, he knew about her feelings for her... and didn't care. She was fun to tease and getting hit by her didn't hurt. Raine was... well... challenging. She tended to hit very hard, was not interested in anything he said and obviously didn't like him for disliking half-elves, plus he knew about her hatred against human kind. The two of them were very much alike.

"Well you're not really a half-elf right now, just as I am not really human."

Raine looked at Zelos for a second. He had a point there. With a Cruxis-crystal equipped, there was not really a difference between humans, elves or half-elves. Sacrificing the same things made them equal. The crystals after all didn't really care about who equipped them.

Sighing she slowly pulled her hair back a little, revealing her pointy ears.

"I still have these. Can you ignore these?"

The aristocrat stepped closer to her, carefully removed her hand and pulled back her hair. He never really saw a half-elves' ears, but they were clearly different from human and elves. They were much shorter than elven ones, but not round like human ones.

He frowned and tilted his head to the side.

"You have two ears. I have them too. So why are you different than me? You would only be scary if you had none."  
This was actually the first time he ever saw her ears. She and Genis tended to hide them under their hair.

"You know exactly what I mean", she said in an angry tone and looked down while Zelos still held back her hair.

Why the hell did he do that? Raine always thought he despised her for being a half-elf, but apparently he didn't. He even put them on the same level...

Damn this pain was going to kill her. Her head hurt really badly and she thought it was about to blow. This was just too much for her. She placed her fingertips on her forehead, rubbing it a bit.

"You're such an idiot", she said silently.

"Because I'm trying to change?"  
"Because you do everything to seduce a woman, even pretending what you not are."

Again Zelos looked down on her in surprise. For the first time he was not trying to make a woman fall in love with him and now she made an complete pervert out of him. Well he could be very naughty, but that was beside the point.

"Raine please I'm not..."

"Don't argue with me. You're giving me a headache."  
So that was why she was rubbing her forehead like that? Well she sure had a lot of syndromes in the last couple of hours.

"Just listen for me for once! I am NOT trying anything. I never do anything that would hurt a woman. I'm just trying to be nice."

"Then you could start by not screaming at me!"

She turned his back on him and walked over the the window. Without wanting it he raised his voice in anger. Unusual for the self-controlled chosen. He sighed and looked over to her for a few seconds before walking over to her, putting his hands on her shoulders and leaning to her ear.

"I'm sorry. I just..."

"Just forget it..."

Both of them went silent. Zelos, after a few thoughts, decided to carefully rub her shoulders and her neck to make her feel better.

"You think there is any way", he then started. "we could just... you know... start over or something?"

"We can't change who and what we are."  
Still she had to admit he was pretty skilled in what he did. Raine felt her stiffened muscles loosing up slowly and her headache also became better. It was already a miracle that she allowed him to be so close to her. The last time she allowed somebody to be so close...

"What do you have against me?", he interrupted her again.

"N-Nothing", she quickly said. "It's nothing."

"Is it about Kratos?"

She stared on her feet, biting her bottom lip as she felt something heavy in her chest.

So it was true after all. It was only rumors he heard from different sides, but it really seemed that Raine was in love with the mercenary. Was...

He heard about how Kratos betrayed them and Genis once said that Raine didn't talk for days after that, not if it wasn't necessary. He wasn't really an expert with all this love-things, because he never really was in love with someone, but he understood how much it pained to loose someone close. And having this person as enemy had to be much more painful. He believed it was the main reason she always hold back that much and that she never talked about anything personal.

"How...?"  
"Just guessing. The others told me a lot, but they don't know about it. I keep it a secret. But not all people or humans are like that."

"I know that", she said, turning around but still staring at her feet. "I guess I... just don't want it to happen again."

Fear. One of the strongest feelings you could have. Fear made a lot of people coward in front of others, isolates people from each other.

"You think you can trust me? At least for once?"

The professor looked up, straight into the deep blue eyes of Zelos. She was quite confused what he was going to do. She couldn't promise anything like that, but...  
"I can try..."

"Then close your eyes."

She hesitated, but did as she was told and waited what he was going to do. Actually she expected him to got outside and get something to show her, but what she got instead made her heart jump. A few seconds after she closed her eyes she felt his breath on her skin, his hand running across her cheek as she felt him kissing her softly. Her body stiffened and she felt the heat in her face, but didn't resist for some reason. It was just Zelos' way to express himself, right? As he pulled away again she opened her eyes a little, but didn't look at him.

"Don't make me do that", she whispered, her hand shaking.  
"Don't make you do what?" He also just spoke silently, but she could clearly hear him. She could hear his heart and breath race, too, just as her own.

"Don't make me fall for you."

Raine resisted for such a long time, forced himself to not do this. After all, Zelos was a handsome young man and he could be very charming if he decided not to act like a complete idiot.

Zelos still watched her closely. She was shivering under his hand, which was still placed on her cheek. He removed his gloves earlier, so he felt her skin burning under his fingers. She did not look at him, although he could tell what she was thinking right now. Falling for someone broke her heart once, so it wasn't surprising she didn't want to feel that again.

"I'm not Kratos", he told her, letting his hand run through her hair.

"You will betray us."  
"I won't. I promise. I'm on your side."

She didn't answer, but closed her eyes again. He carefully wrapped his arms around her and after she hesitated for a short time, he felt er hands on his shoulders, working their way forward and ended up in his neck. He hold her tight. Maybe that was the first promise he intended to keep.

Her whole body ended up shaking under Zelos' touch, under the way he hold her. Raine could clearly feel him support her or else her legs wouldn't carry her weight anymore. Something she wished for for such a long time, it was ridiculous. Kratos never gave her that feeling.

She hid her face on his shoulder, letting him hold her up. Right now she just wanted to forget about everything. Mithos, Genis, Kratos, Lloyd, Colette, the Cruxis-crystal... everything.

"Raine?"

Just a little she pulled back to look at him, but still let him stay close.

"May I... may you grant me one more kiss?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Well I'm afraid you will slap me."

He grinned a little and she felt like stepping on his feet, which she did, but just a little to make him squirm and biting his bottom lip.

"I will hit you if you kill the mood right now."

"Not fair..."

The pain quickly faded as he felt the professor's face close to his, since he bowed down to her a little as she stepped on his feet. He still placed one hand on her cheek to bring himself and her into a better position before he pulled her into another kiss, which, much to his surprise, she returned shyly. She was so sweet and so much different from what he was used to. Sure he always had a lot of girls, sweet ones and very beautiful, but nothing but puppets to him. Zelos knew he wasn't supposed to, but maybe... just maybe he could actually start changing for one person. He felt her hand ran through his hair and playing with one of his locks. How far was he allowed to go? He was curious, so he deepened the kiss and she let him.

Dear Martel what was she doing? She allowed him one kiss and he was about to take everything with it? But why did this feel so great? Raine longed for this feeling she thought to have lost such a long time ago. This warm feeling and this tickle under her skin. Maybe she could just let him as long as they were alone. No one needed to know.

She felt his hand ran down her cheek, her neck and playing with her still wet, orange coat. She pulled away her body just a few inches like she was in trance, but Zelos seemed to take it as invitation to remove said coat. The wet piece of clothing fell down on the red carpet and stayed there...

[…] (yeah you know what they are doing)

As she regained all of her conscious she was breathing lightly, her upper body resting on the redheaded one and her head on his chest. He fell asleep just a few moments ago. Raine herself was exhausted, but not tired at all. So she just needed to realize her just taken actions. Damn how could she let this happen?

She sat up and hold her head, looked down to Zelos, who was sleeping peacefully. Still she smelled this very particular smell, hormones and sweat, which stayed in the room and on someones body after having sex. Carefully she stroke a few hair strains out of his face and smiled slightly. No she did want that and she still felt incredible. Well aside from that numb feeling she started to get in her fingertips and her feet.

But she could not stand that smell, so Raine decided to get some fresh air in the garden behind the house. She saw them when was examining the room when they got here, so she pulled herself out of the soft bed and looked around for her clothes. As she took her wet trousers she noticed a small pile of still folded clothes on the chair. Maybe the clothes Zelos wanted to get her before... well that happened. Silently she walked over there and unfolded a white top with black stripes on the sides, some black trousers and some underwear. Why and where did he keep that? Well it seemed washed and smelled fresh, so she dressed herself before she left the room downstairs. There she found some red slippers, surely Zelos', but she put them on anyway. Her legs still felt a little shaking, but at least she could stand and walk without collapsing. The sun already set and it was dark outside, just the moon lightened the room through the window. Still some thick clouds sometimes blocked the light. But for her eyes getting better and better over time she had no problems finding her way outside and found herself in a small garden. She sat down into the still wet grass and looked up to the sky. Actually she never thought ending up like this at the beginning of their journey. All what has happened had a very strong impact on their lives.

She closed her eyes for a second, let the thoughts run through her mind and relaxed a bit. Maybe she should change. After all she was not what the others thought she was, not perfect at all. But if she changed, to who could the kids look up to? Most of all her own brother. If he finally grew up, lived his own life, maybe then...

A sudden pain cord up her throat, made her lean over and nearly made her fall into the grass. She felt something rip open the wall she usually had around her mana, the wall that pretended the mana to leave her body. Usually this was deadly, but she felt something different hold onto her mana like a skeleton, letting a bit of it flow out but stayed connected to her body. As she opened her eyes she saw a soft, bright orange light around her shadow. What the...

Raine tilted her head a bit as she saw what she already suspected. A pair of shining, yellow-orange wings spread on her back. It felt... strange since she still felt the pain the crystal caused by ripping her inner protection of her mana. Cursing silently she closed her eyes, tried to focus herself. Maybe she could control this like she did with her magic, even if this was very different from what she was used to. No she couldn't do this on her own, however she may was able to use the crystal for that. But that meant she had to let this parasite even deeper into her mana. A really troubling thought, but what choice did she have? Raine wasn't able to focus properly as she was still not able to even breathe properly. Dammit the keycrest was supposed to protect her from this, so why didn't it work? Well she could worry about that later.

Still shaking she bit her bottom lip and tried to feel the crystal's mana, found it after some time and let it deeper into her mana in exchange for gaining control over the wings on her back, which she was finally able to pull back. She collapsed a bit, fell back on her back and stared into the sky. No this was not normal. Again she stared on her hand. The numb feeling continued to crawl up her arms and legs, while it already reached her upper arms. She had to talk to Zelos about this...

Zelos however already watched the whole scenery from his window. He woke up as Raine left the room, but stayed in bed for a few minutes while he hoped for her to come back. He still heard her opening the door to the gardens and went to his window to look after her. He was pretty tired, yes, but since Raine wasn't he decided to watch after her as long as it was just the two of them. Just as he thought about joining her, her wings appeared for the first time. They had pretty much the same color as his, whatever sign this was. Kratos once told him that usually every angel got another wingcolor, exceptions for those who are related. The colors usually represented the character of a person, was influenced by memories, emotions and character treats. Well Raine's wings were more like yellow-ish, but still had a strong orange color. So they were even more similar than he thought before...

He touched his Cruxis-crystal with his fingertips before he got dressed and went downstairs in the gardens.

"Raine? Are you alright?"


	4. Chapter 4

(Please remember I'm not English. Mistakes are for those who search for them. I usually find them while reading through it about the third time, but I'm too lazy to correct.)

It has been around two weeks since that incident and the group just rejoined a few days ago. Lloyd and the rest of the group made a pact with Shadow, the summon spirit of darkness, and went back to Sybak in order to rejoin with Zelos and Raine. The whole time Raine was usually in bed and Zelos cared for her. She had some highs and lows on her healthiness, but after Lloyd and the group met up with them, she felt well enough to continue traveling. The professor quickly found out that the Cruxis-crystal did not exactly do what she wanted to. More and more she lost her feelings, her emotions and was now followed by loosing her voice more and more. She talked to Zelos about it, but he seemed as clueless as she was, however Raine came to the conclusion that her keycrest was not working correctly, which was the reason why she didn't remove the crystal. That action would kill her, so she convinced the others to go back to Altessa to ask him about it. Well... Zelos was going to ask since Genis didn't leave her out of his sight since she came back.

That was also pretty much the reason why Zelos didn't even dare to get close to her, as much as he wanted to. In the others eyes he was still just a pervert and if he got a little private time with the lovely professor, she had other problems most of the time. She usually only was able to tell him how far her transformation was and what he should do in order to prevent the others from finding out before Genis started to ran up to them.

The chosen sat where Raine left him behind as he watched her being dragged away by her little brother. He would give so much just for having a few more hours alone with her. He still got hunted by this one night in his dreams and he longed for her. He never knew he could be so addicted to a woman. During their journey back to Altessa he tried to hold the others back so he had more time to think. Mithos was still with Altessa and if he found out how fast the crystal was taking hold of Raine, he would definitely take her. The only positive thing was that her transformation appeared to slow down since she started fighting against it. Sure she kept loosing words and her sentences became shorter and shorter, but he convinced the others that she just had a cold and should talk as less as possible. The group didn't really believe him, but as Raine approved and said something which sounded like '..y throat h...rts pretty bad...' they didn't question it again.

Sighing he got up from his place and went a bit deeper into the woods so he could think about what to do next. He could not tell Altessa about it, he would just... freak out or something. After all he was against any experiments including Cruxis-crystals and what Raine did was nothing other than a experiment.

"Where do you think you are going, chosen one?", a female voice asked behind him. Zelos wandered around inside the woods for just a few minutes, but he was still far away from the rest of the group.

"Just taking a walk. Why are you asking, Milady?", he answered smiling and turned around. The female figure stood tall and proud in front of him. It was the green-haired half-elf Pronyma, the head of the Grand Cardinals and Mithos' personal pet. It was disgusting how she obeyed him whatever it was and however he treated her. He once witnessed how small the woman could get when her lord was screaming at her in anger. Like a puppy who destroyed his masters favorite shoes and got schooled for it.

"Lord Yggdrasil is getting impatient. He asks where you have been. You should return by now."

Zelos crossed his arms behind his head and sighed softly.

"Sorry, beautiful, but there are some things that take time."

"The woman's transformation is far enough now. Lord Yggdrasil wants to take her to Welgaia."

So she was watching them. This could be a problem. If Mithos found out he was holding back the group from returning to Altessa he could get in serious danger.

"Not far enough, don't you think? The professor would never agree to go with Mithos, even if it depends on her life. She's quite stubborn you know?"

Pronyma let out a slight angry growl as she looked over to the chosen. She did not want that woman to come close to her master and for her it didn't matter how much he wanted her. Her lord was convinced that that half-elf was his big sister's reincarnation, however his real sister was still inside the Great Seed, sleeping an eternal slumber. Yggdrasil did not enter that room since his plans with that woman and now started to ignore her, his trustful servant, completely. Since she was beside Yggdrasil's side he always had listened to her advice and sometimes he even trusted in her more than in Kratos. But now her master only sent her to watch after Kratos so he did not do anything stupid and also after this little group to make sure they did return to Altessa. She did not want to do it, yet it was an order from her master. Still she hoped to get his attention if she performed well enough, to get just a few kind words. She was not even allowed to call him by his first name although she stood close to him.

"As far as I remember it was your order to make sure she is ready."

Controlling the chosen was quite easy. He just wanted to be released of his title and was willing to do anything and she was able to convince her lord to use him as spy, giving him what he wanted in the end or just killing him. One way or the other, he would be able to be released of his title.

"Hey I'm doing my best", Zelos said, pouting and leaning against a tree. "But Raine is smart."  
"She fights against the crystal then."  
"I guess you could say that."

"Then just persuade her."

"Easier said than done, chérie. The others don't leave her out of their sight, especially that little brat. If you need to hurry up you need to hurt her feelings. Too bad she hasn't anyone left, so that is out. And talking her into doing it won't do any good."

But the smile she gave him made him raise an eyebrow. This was not good. Every time the crystal dug deeper into her mana, Raine said to him when they were still at Sybak, she always had strong feelings shortly before it happened, so he was kind of guilty for causing her wings, however this would have happened sooner or later anyway. Both of them were relieved that none of the others knew about it.

"Uhm... did I say something funny?", he asked after Pronyma seemed to have gotten into thinking for a second.

"No. Make sure you and your group go to Exire within three days."

"What?" Wow that was a sudden change of subject. "Why? And most of all: How? We have no Rheairds at the moment."

"You should reach Mizuho within the next two days right? I will make sure they will get some Rheairds for you. Then you will head for Exire."

No he did not like this at all, but it's not like he had a choice. Mithos had him completely in his claws and as soon as he did something against his will he was done for. First it started out to be a deal with releasing him from the burden of being the chosen, but now this whole deal was based on his very life. And he enjoyed it as much as he could. He did not want to die.

Before could answer Pronyma was gone. Zelos still stood there for a few seconds before heading back to the others. How the hell was he going to convince them into going to Exire again?

Raine sat a few feet away with her book in her hands. The group started talking and laughing, but she didn't care. Not since she was not able to feel anymore. She was kind of happy that all of them were so careless and happy, but she preferred to take the time for her studies. You never stop learning after all. As she heard some wood break she looked up and watched Zelos coming out of the woods. He was gone for quite some time now, but that was nothing special. From time to time, all of them needed a little space and time for themselves.

"Where the heck have you been?", Sheena asked as he sat down beside her.

"Ah... sorry, sweety-pie. I just took a long walk and forgot the time. It's beautiful night after all. You missed me?"

He grinned and started flirting with Sheena again, which of course made her angry and started hitting Zelos again. The others laughed and even Raine smiled a little. It was really amusing how the two of them behaved.

After some time they somehow came to the subject of the summon spirits. Genis told them about which spirits existed since Raine wasn't able to.

"...and then there's Maxwell. He controls space as far as it is known, but no one knows where his shrine is."

"There is a rumor that he is somewhere in Tethe'alla", the assassin said and sighed softly. "That would be very great if we had that summon spirit on our side."

"Is he really that powerful?", Lloyd asked and looked over to Sheena. She nodded.

"He is said to be. And for him controlling space and material he could surely tell us more about the two worlds."

"I would really like to know how the two worlds exist like that...", Genis mumbled quietly and looked up into the stars. 

Zelos listened to the group closely. Lloyd became terribly exited about Maxwell and wanted to make a pact with him. The chosen got into thinking again. In Meltokio he once heard that Maxwell was well hidden and also tended to change his location. He wasn't sure but maybe he could talk the group into getting to Exire for Maxwell.

"You know", he started talking to Lloyd and the others were looking over to him. It was unusual for him to get into discussions like that. "I heard that Maxwell can't be found in a shrine like the others. So he's not in a fixed position. Well not as fixed as Gnome for example."

"What do you mean?", the swordsman asked confused.

"Think for a second. Why does no one know about Maxwell's whereabouts? Maybe he can't be found on the earth."

Lloyd tilted his head to his side in confusion, tried to think and pressed a finger against his forehead. Man this boy was harder to deal with than the king himself. Something made Lloyd fall over and hold his head, whimpering in pain. A small stone rolled in front of Zelos' feet as he looked up.

"Auuuu~ Professor! That hurts! Throwing chalks after me is one thing but we're not in school", the brownhead whimpered and rolled on his side.

"Exire", Raine simply said as she looked over to Zelos, ignoring Lloyd's protests completely.

The aristocrat smiled in slight fear. The ultra-cool beauty could be very dangerous and scary if she wanted to be. And her aiming was deadly precise.

"Yeah. For it changing locations continually no one really knows what secret it holds. So maybe that's where Maxwell is."

Sheena scratched her cheek as she stared into the fire.

"Well it's worth a try I suppose. But how do we get there?"

Regal looked up from the ground.

"Do you think the information network in Mizuho could do something about the Rheairds?"

"Surely. But since we're in the middle of nowhere I don't think I could contact anyone here."

"Then why don't we just get there? It's just a few hours from here. When we get the Rheairds back we can also continue on to Sylverant", Lloyd interfered once again as he got up. He still hold his head in pain.

"Sounds like a plan", Genis said happily before he yawned. "But can we do this tomorrow? I'm tired."

"I guess we all are."

This was not a good idea. If they skipped Altessa only heavens knew how deep that parasite would dig into her mana. Raine looked over to Zelos. He knew about the crystal and that it was about to consume her, so why did he suggested Exire? Not only was it a waste of time because they did not know if Maxwell was actually there, but all of them knew that her mother was still there. The last time the group decided to go to Exire she resisted and talked them into going to Altamira instead, even if she despised this city more than anything. But now she couldn't even talk them out of this. She was barely able to talk a few words in a row and all of them were fixed on Maxwell right now. She had to think of something this night.

As all of them lay on the ground in order to get some sleep she leaned against the stone she was sitting before and closed her eyes. If this kept up she couldn't do anything anymore. Even now she had to resist the crystal with all she had, which was especially dangerous in battle. She could barely concentrate on her magic, however it was still stronger than ever before. Luckily being a woman she was able to focus on more than one thing at once, while her main focus was to keep the crystal's mana out of her own.

"Goodnight, sis", she heard her little brother, who lay down beside her, his head in her lap.

"Goodnight..."

Said, done.

One and a half day later the group arrived at Mizuho, where one of the inhabitants walked right over to Sheena.  
"Tiga wanted to talk to you. He said he had something for you."

Without any delay the group went to the chief's house and inside, where said Tiga already awaited them. Raine stayed outside. She didn't feel well and she wanted to take some fresh air. Since she started to actually fight the crystal attached to her, stopping it from taking over more of her, she got used to the slight sick feeling, but it seemed that she was able to slow it down a lot. Not stopping it completely, but at least she could still speak or else she most likely would have lost everything up to now.

Inside Tiga just handed over the wingpack over to Sheena.

"We found it inside the woods just yesterday. There are some rheairds are in there. We are not sure if it is yours, but you can surely make good use of it."

"Wow that's what we came for. Just awesome!", Lloyd said happily, grinned and took the wingpack from Sheena. He looked inside. "Alright! Maxwell here we come!"

"That is... strange...", Genis said and crossed his arms. "We only got here to ask for the rheairds and just like that you find them in the woods? Just like that? I thought they are expensive."

"Maybe someone lost them."

"Don't be an idiot, Lloyd. Genis is right. No one just looses rheairds and doesn't look for them", Sheena meant and Zelos pulled her close, lay one arm around her.

"Aww come on, Sheena. Don't be such a grinch. All that matters is that we got them right?"

The chosen found himself on the floor again, a bump at his head, but he expected that.

"Well I hate to admit it, but I guess you're right."

Good. The less they asked, the less trouble he got. Zelos actually was curious what Pronyma had planned, however the same time he was afraid of finding out. The half-elf obviously had something against Mithos' plan to turn Raine into an angel, but as far as he knew her, she would never dare to disobey her master's wishes. Sad. Pronyma would make a good ally.

"Before you go", Tiga interfered while the others already talked about some strategies against Maxwell. "Why don't you stay for today and head of for Maxwell tomorrow? If it is the summon spirit you are talking about it will not be easy. You should only go after him fully recovered."

All of them agreed. Great now he had to wait even longer. Not that it actually mattered, but anyway. He went outside again where he found Raine sitting by the well and staring down.

"Hi there beautiful. What are you doing?"

She lifted an eyebrow on him and he grinned a little. He quickly looked around so no one was spying on them. Not unusual for a ninja-village, but since he did not hear or see someone he sat down beside her.  
"Sorry. I forgot. How do you feel? You're voice better?"

She shook her head, mumbling "worse". She did not really sound very healthy, more like she just got a bad hit on her throat. So he wouldn't get a conversation out of her. It was difficult to communicate with someone who couldn't speak. Or at least not that much.

"They had some rheairds. So tomorrow we will go to Exire."

Raine stared at the well again, bit her tongue. Not that she actually felt that, but she did it anyway. She needed to tell him that she didn't have much time left, at least that's what she thought. For some minutes she thought about a way, but then she remembered Colette when she lost her voice. Carefully she took his hand and hoped he would get it. Zelos was smart, but not really the fastest at thinking.

As she took his hand he looked at her in surprised. Then she started to draw something... letters maybe? W...H...A... oh he got it. She was spelling.

'What about Altessa?'

"What about him?"

He earned some grim looks as he nervously smiled at her. Of course he didn't forget, but he couldn't tell her that.

"Oh right. Well I kinda forgot about that. I would go there myself tonight, but that would be suspicious."

Sighing she gripped his hand a little harder. Man this woman had strength. On the outside she was a soft flower, breakable, but dear Martel she was tough. Good thing for him she wasn't using black magic or she would have fried him a few times now.

'I can not wait.'

"I know. I'm sorry I suggested that. It's just that it seemed like a good idea. If we have Maxwell on our side we have better chances against Mithos."

She let her hand ran through her hair. He had a point there. They had to raise their chances against Mithos if they had to face him. But still she was running out of time. Well since she lost her emotions it became much easier to resist the crystal since her emotional distress seemed to speed up the process.

"Everything will turn out fine. You think you can eat something today? Tiga surely will get us some dinner."

Shaking her head slightly she looked at him and stared down again. Then she got close to Zelos, let her head rest against his shoulder. She heard him lay an arm around her and pulling her closer, but she was quite unhappy that she couldn't really feel it and she missed it. She could smell him, this distinctive, quite flowery smell around him, heard his breath and his heartbeat. He almost smelled like roses and lilies. Since she still hold his hand, which has closed around hers right now, she carefully opened his again, continued spelling.

'Thank you, Zelos.'

"For what?"

'Everything you did for me.'

"Well you did a lot for me too, so we're even."

The professor looked up at him in surprised. What did she ever do for him, beside hitting him and schooling him a lot. Zelos laughed.

"I think you're the only person who likes me for what I am, not what I pretend to be. Even thou you know about almost everything I plan you still accept me."

'Almost?'

"Well we all have our secrets. I'm sure you have a lot, too."

She smiled a bit and looked at his hand, began drawing small circles on it. Zelos took it and carefully kissed her fingers softly. He enjoyed this a lot. Just sitting beside her and... well talk was a big word... talk-write with her. How badly he wanted to kiss her right now, but that wouldn't made any sense. She wouldn't have felt it. Maybe he should reconsider going to Exire with the group, but he doubted that they would have this kind of luck again. But for now he just enjoyed being with Raine, holding her close. She was a wonderful woman. Perfect for a wonderful man like him.

"I like you a lot, Raine", he whispered, closing his eyes and put his head on hers.

Raine felt her face getting a bit red. Strange. She was not supposed to feel embarrassed, yet she was. Maybe her feelings weren't completely gone? That would explain why she felt so comfortable, even though it was Zelos she was sitting here with. She just closed her eyes and held his hand a little closer. Right now she kind of wanted to take this crystal off, feeling his warm skin and his breath in her hair like she did just some days ago in Sybak. Raine never expected to actually wish for something like that. Before all this happened between them she just wished for all her feelings, her memories and everything to go away, so they could not hurt her anymore. All the pain the humans and elves gave her would just fade, but now she realized that this pain was still a part of her, just like this positive feelings she got around her friends made her an individual.

'I like you too', she wrote on his hand and smiled a little.

As it went dark the two of them parted and Zelos stood up. He did not want to but they could not risk getting caught like that.  
"We should go inside. The others are surely looking for us."

Raine agreed and the both of them went inside.

The next morning Lloyd was the first to get up. Well after Raine that is who didn't sleep for nearly a week.

"Good morning, Professor Sage", he said as he got to her. At least her student was already dressed. Lloyd tended to leave his jacked and walk around in only his thin, black muscle-shirt, which looked disgusting in her personal opinion. Sure some people like Colette enjoyed that, but she surely didn't.

"Morning", she whispered. Her voice was really almost gone. She stared back into her book as she heard the others getting up, too, and they met up in Tiga's house. They spent the rest of the morning preparing. Raine, Genis, Presea and Regal went to the shop, bought some gels, a few pens, paper, food, some medicine (you never knew), water and some other stuff needed. Zelos, Lloyd, Sheena and Colette went to a traveling salesman, who sold them some armor and new weapons. After dinner they left the village and Genis unpacked the rheairds. He kept them since everyone still thought it was Lloyd who had lost them in the first place.

"Alright! I'm stuffed and I'm ready for action", Lloyd said happily, getting on one of the machines. The others followed his example and they followed the swordsman.

"Do you even know where we need to go?", Sheena nearly screamed over to Lloyd. The wind was very loud and made it difficult to understand each other while flying.

"I thought you know?", said swordsman half-asked back and looked around.

Typical Lloyd, Raine thought. Always acting before thinking.

Luckily she showed Regal where Exire was supposed to be located during this time.

"It should be close to Flanoir by now", Regal shouted from the back, so they all flew in this direction, found said floating city close to the Flanoir-continent. The city was just made of platforms, so the houses were very small and you could look over them easily. But this time there was something strange. It smelled... burned? It was faint, but still there.

The group landed on one of the platforms and now even the human part of their group started to wonder.

"It smells like ash", Presea pointed out. It was easy for her to tell that she was disturbed by this particular smell. After all her home village was burnt to ashes.

"Yeah. Let's find out where this is coming from. I have a bad feeling about this."

So they went through the city. As usual, the half-elves avoided the group, mainly because most of them were humans. Just as humans hated half-elves, said half-elves hated humans, but they were much more tolerant up here in Exire.

"Raine!", she heard a male voice shouting and a familiar looking man walked up to them. It was the very half-elf who took care of her mother, so she seemed a bit confused that he immediately walked up to her. "I didn't expect you so soon, but... something has happened. It's about your mother."

"What about mum?", Genis interfered, walking up beside his sister.

"I guess you should look yourself. However..."

Raine stopped him from talking. She heard enough. As much as she despised her mother, even though she knew the whole truth why she was abandoned, it was still her mother. So she passed the man and the rest of the group and went through the small city, right to the house a bit outside on a separate platform where her mother resided. Or at least used to. Where the house used to be, only a black spot was left, the house next to it was slightly burned, but still intact. As she suddenly stopped Genis ran against her legs.

"Raine why..."

Then he also saw the spot his sister was staring at. So that was where the burned smell came from. The small house their mother used to live in was burned to its ground. Only a few burned pieces of wood lay on the ground. Genis felt something within him break. Sure he only knew his mother for a very short time, but still it was his mother. He felt tears burning in his eyes and looked up to his sister. She just stood there, emotionless and staring on the spot. Their friends came to their sides and also looked on the burned place.

"What happened here?", Regal asked in shock, turned around as the half-elf joined their company.

"We don't know", he said and looked around. "Two days ago, the house suddenly went on fire and before we could act it was destroyed."

"What about my mum? What happened to her?", Genis screamed and ran over to the man. He shook his head.

"We didn't find her. She wasn't in the city, but we didn't found anything in the house either. Only this..."

The man gave a little doll he had in his hands to Genis. The little half-elf looked at it and started crying. It was his mother's doll she always confused with Raine. He looked over to his sister. She was still standing there, looking over her shoulder down to the puppet, but she didn't seem to be struck by this as he was.

"Professor?", Lloyd finally asked as he got close to Raine. He lay one hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

She didn't answer. Instead she turned away, walked quickly in one direction, away from the group. Genis wanted to get after her, but Presea hold him back.  
"She surely wants to be alone..."

Raine's quick walking increased to running. No this couldn't be. Her mother, dead? This was just not possible. Sure she was confused, but not that dumb to blow herself up or set herself on fire. She always believed that somewhere she would remember her, that somehow they could be one family again. But this was over, her dream of having her family again. Her father was deceased caused by a illness, her mother dead because of fire. Why did they come here? And why all of the sudden?

While she was running she crashed into some people, but got up really quickly and continued her path, which lead nowhere. She didn't feel the pain caused by her crashes, was blind to the world around her. She just needed to get away quickly. The cries by the other half-elves meant nothing to her, just the pain that she felt inside. Right now she desperately clamped onto the last to things that meant to her, that prevented her to go insane and to loose herself. Raine felt the shadow of the crystal digging its way into her soul, making it hard to breath, but still she resisted.

When she finally found the end of her way, a lonely platform at the far west of the town, she stayed on the edge, just looking down and watching the earth passing by. Screaming, shouting, crying, all the things she wanted to do right now, she couldn't do. All because of that thing. But knowing she couldn't, wasn't allowed to take it off. She cursed the day she listened to Zelos...

Why did he have to suggest to come here? Why couldn't they just go to Altessa first? Then at least she would be able to cry now. Her mother was most likely dead and she wasn't even able to cry a single tear for her. She hated her for what she did, but she still loved her. Virginia loved her and she loved her back in return. It pained her so much inside, her whole body seemed to burn in anger, sadness, despair, but still she couldn't show it.

"He sure tricked you good", she heard a familiar voice say. As she turned around, Raine saw Pronyma. What was she doing here? Did Mithos send her?

"Surprised to see me? I am sure you are."

Raine wanted to take a step back, but already standing at the edge, she stayed where she was. She could have easily fly if she needed to, but she preferred not to. She never flew before and wasn't so sure how this thing worked.

"You don't need to be afraid. Lord Yggdrasil ordered me to watch after you and to prevent you from getting harmed. Especially from that idiot chosen."

Still not convinced, but definitely curious she stepped one step away from the edge. If she got dizzy now again, she could most likely fall.

Pronyma smiled a little as the half-elf seemed to calm down a bit. Everything went as planned up to now. The green-haired woman just waited for an opportunity to talk to Raine alone. Actually she was not really eager to hand over the woman to her master and was jealous that she got his whole attention, but maybe, just maybe if she was bringing her to her master, he would praise her, appreciate her work. It was one of her secret dreams.

It seemed that woman tried to say something or rather asking something. By guessing Pronyma thought she was referring to her last sentence.

"What I mean by protecting you from Zelos? Think about it. Why did he bring you here in the first place? He knows about what is happening to you and that my Lord likes you like you are a family member."

Raine watched as Pronyma closed in, however she stayed alerted. Pronyma could not be trusted, but she would also never disobey Mithos' orders as far as she could tell. Yet her questions made her think. Zelos KNEW that time was a dangerous factor for her. She lost more and more of herself, even though she fought the crystal with all she could. But no he wouldn't do that. He wouldn't betray her, would he? After all she meant something to him...

"What did he tell you? That he cared for you? He's a good liar after all."

He wasn't lying to her, was he? There was nothing in it for him if he lied to her. Unless...

"It's really pathetic you fell for the same trick again."

She felt another pain pierce through her heart.

For Pronyma it was really easy to guess what she was thinking right now. Although angels did not feel any physical pain, emotions were still present, provided that they are strong enough. It was also the key for her plan to rip down the last piece of resistance that foolish woman had against the crystal. When she was done, this pathetic creature would be nothing different from a puppet and then it was easy for her to take her to the tower of salvation. She was watching Kratos ever since he took the cover as mercenary and accompanied Colette on her quest, so she knew about the trick the human used to prevent his identity being uncovered. Love made blind, so they say.

"Zelos wanted to blackmail Lord Yggdrasil to release him from the title of chosen of mana. If he wasn't, that stupid chosen wanted to just take that crystal from you, knowing that this would surely kill you."

She watched the silver-haired woman carefully lay her fingertips on the place where her Cruxis-crystal should be. Pronyma stood before her, looking down on her. She was a bit taller than Raine, but that didn't matter at all. The woman before her was looking down to her feet and didn't really seem to recognize her being so close.

This just couldn't be, could it? He just got close to her so he could blackmail Mithos? How could she have been so stupid? Again? Why did she fell for the same trick twice?

"What did you think why he got so close to you?"

Raine didn't want to hear it. She could not bear this. Not again.

"Zelos is just a selfish bastard. An emotionless creature, like all humans."

She wanted to scream at Pronyma at this point. Tell her to stop, to take it back. Zelos, he...

"_Did you really think he loves you? For him you are only a toy._"

Those words echoed in her mind. She thought... she... they...

_I care for you. I'm on your side._

"He never cares for anybody. Just for himself. He just wants an easy life."

_I really like you._

"Zelos once told me he wants to share it with you little assassin-friend. Sheena wasn't it?"

A single tear left the corner of her eye, ran down her cheek. Every inch of her body ached, the water burned on her skin and hand fell down her side. She knew it. But why should she care anymore?

Raine let the pain run through her body as her world became dark...

tbc

(I am so sorry I rushed through some parts like that, but I finally want to get to the fun parts I have in mind :D)


	5. Chapter 5

(Note: since does not like me having proper passages, I'll mark each new one my making the first word italic to avoid utter confusion. I jump around between PoVs a lot here.)

_The _sky went dark. Small raindrops were falling from the sky. It was like the sky was crying over the lost of another pure soul. And all he could do was watch. Watch how Pronyma broke her, rip open old wounds and breaking down the barrier she built up for such a long time. Then he could feel it. He could feel her mana leak, just as planned. Why did it have to be like this? It is not like she did not suffer enough. And all this just for Mithos' foolish plans. Just for his wishes and desires he destroyed so many peoples life. Watching was all he could do, waiting and observe, manipulate and deceive. It was not like he wanted to do this, he had to. Mithos would kill them all otherwise.

"Well that was easier than I expected", Pronyma said, stepping a bit closer to the other half-elf. Her eyes were empty, but there was a very light, nearly invisible glow of mana. He could feel it and because of his angel senses he could also see it dropping down and disappearing seconds later into nothingness. No he couldn't watch this, so he turned around.  
"Lord Yggdrasil will be highly pleased, I'm sure."

She didn't seem to notice him, but he preferred to stay quiet. It wouldn't help anybody if he would stand up for her. Not him, not her, not Pronyma, not anybody. It would just make things worse. He heard Pronyma mumble a warp-spell as well as both of them warp away. He felt his clothes soak up the rain and his hair glued to his face as he decided to walk off. He went in the direction of a small house where he saw the group head before.

(sidenote: is warp actually right? I always thought it was teleport, but when I looked it up in the english version it said warp. Would someone enlighten me?)

"_Don't _you think we should go get her? The weather is getting pretty nasty", Lloyd said as he looked out the window and then turned around to look at the group again. Genis sat on a chair, still crashed from his mother's death. He held the little doll in his hand, hugging it tightly. It was pretty much the last remain of his mother. Even if he didn't know her for a long time, she has been his mother after all. Once he imagined how it would be to be a family again. Of course his father wasn't able to come and join them, but at least he would have a real, one true mother. His whole life his sister was his whole family, his mother, his sister and his best friend. But knowing her, she would most likely never be the same. Genis himself maybe would be able to recover from this, but his sister was usually rather vulnerable when it came to family. She once promised him never to leave him and he appreciated that a lot. He loved her as much as a brother could love his sister, as much as a son could love his mother. Genis never wanted her to be scared like she was so many times in the past, but he couldn't avoid it. Most of the time she never told him anything what was going on with her and she kept a lot to herself just that he wouldn't worry and when he noticed, it was too late. No he didn't want her to be alone, yet she decided to stay for herself most of the time.

"Do you really think that is a good idea? Professor Sage is a grown-up woman. I am sure she will return really soon", Regal said, who was sitting on a couch and watching the whole scenery. Genis just hoped he was right. Raine could be really stubborn and childish, but she usually did what she thought was best for her, which was not always the right decision. Although it was really hard to predict her and to save her from foolish actions. The little half-elf got up from his seat.

"I'm going to look for her anyway. Maybe I can make her feel better."

He left the doll behind as he ran to the door, ignoring some protests Regal and Sheena made, as well as Lloyd's and Colette's comments about wanting to join him. Genis thought about where she would be, considering it was pitch black outside since the sun already set and because of the heavy rainclouds. It would not be easy to spot her even though she had that bright orange coat. Just as he opened the door and ran into the rain, he bumped into a dark figure and almost fell back into a puddle of mud as the person snatched his arm and held him up. Expecting it to be his sister, Genis' face lightened up and he looked up.

"Sis I thought...", his smile faded as he looked straight into Kratos' dark-brown eyes, staring down at him. He wasn't wearing his Cruxis-outfit, but still he didn't feel well in his presence, a traitor's presence. As Kratos released the grip on his arm, Genis stumbled back and nearly fell again because of that one stair in front of the house.

"What do you want?", Lloyd asked angrily as he stood behind Genis.

_Kratos_ expected them to behave like this. In their eyes he was just an enemy. It didn't matter how he would explain himself. They would never change their minds about him, but he did this for such a long time that he stopped caring. He just looked from Genis to Lloyd and then to the other humans, who came out of the house.

"You don't need to look for the professor. She won't come back", he simply said. They would have noticed sooner or later, so he decided to be the bad guy again. At least they wouldn't have to worry about where Raine was and why she went missing from Exire.

"What... What do you mean?", the swordsman's voice became louder and he draw his twin-swords. "What did you do to the professor?"

The angel went silent for a second. He knew that Mithos gave the Cruxis-crystal to Raine, but why she was so foolish to attach it and not to remove it after she lost her voice was a mystery to him. Also he missed how Pronyma was able to crush her feelings like that.

"Answer me Kratos!"

Before he could defend himself Lloyd ran up to him, tried to hit him with a combination. He definitely got better at swordfighting, but he was still no match for him. He easily dodged his attacks while stepping back a little. At least he pulled his two-edged sword and blocked the last of his blows, which would surely had hit him. He pushed the brown-haired boy back, meaning he throw him in the mud with a rather simple blow, and put his sword back where it belonged.

"I'm not here to fight you, Lloyd."

"Tell me what you did to my sister!", he heard Genis crying loud. Maybe it was his luck that the group had left most of her weapons back at the inn and the rest of them were smart enough not to challenge him.

"I did not lay a finger on her. But she is no longer in Exire."

_Did_ she run off again? If so, where to? Maybe Altessa? But... that wouldn't make any sense right? But there was no other place to think of. Zelos held back when the others went outside in order to search Raine, but as he felt Kratos approaching, he also got up and went outside, not really caring if he was going to get wet. That angel was never ever good news and that was pretty much the reason why he got worried.

"Then what happened to her?", Zelos asked and took a step forward, but Kratos stayed quiet. Again he stepped forward, then before he could notice it he stood beside Lloyd in the rain. "Answer me!"

He had an apprehension.

"Pronyma took her. She got the Professor off guard and brought her to the tower of salvation."

"Then we have to get her!", Lloyd demanded. With help of Colette he stood up, still looking at Kratos.

"You can't", the mercenary answered. "You would get yourself killed. After the last time you entered the tower, Mithos sealed any entrances exempt the one in the main hall."

So there was no way in and also no way out. The last time they took the emergency exit, but it seemed it was no longer available.

"We can't just leave her! She's our friend!", Lloyd cried out again, while the redhead looked over to Genis. The little brat seemed to start crying in just a few seconds. Well not surprising. He just lost his whole family.

"We will get her back Kratos. And you can't stop us."

"Maybe he can't, but I can." The whole group including Kratos turned around. At the edge of the platform stood Mithos in his child-form. Plus he didn't seem very pleased.

_The_ little half-elf stood in this spot for quite some time now, listening to what Kratos had to say to the little group. His former friend knew exactly that Raine's companions, especially Genis, would definitely try to take Raine from him again, yet he still told them. He was wet to his bones, but it was not like he could feel that at all. Pronyma sent an angel after him to tell him that his beloved sister was about to finally return to him to the tower of salvation, that the group was on their way to Exire and that she would pick Raine up. He originally wanted to join them, but it seemed he was too late. But when he saw Kratos, he had to follow him. Raine wouldn't run away.

"M-Mithos? What are you doing here?", Genis asked confused.

"Apparently Pronyma did not intend to wait for me. I think I'll have a word with her on that later on." He looked over to Kratos. "But more importantly, why are you here?"

He was not supposed to be here. Mithos forbid him to meet Lloyd again.

"Lord Yggdrasil...", Kratos said after some time, surely not pleased to see him, but it was not like he cared for that. He finally got what he wanted after such a long time. For so long he longed for his sister and now she was just waiting for him back in the tower of salvation. After thinking about this once more, Mithos decided to let Kratos do as he pleased, but just as long as he did not get in his way. There was still one final step to do until his sister was completely his again. "I was..."

"Actually I don't care. But you know what happens if you get in my way."

"You can't do that Mithos!" Kratos suddenly became outraged. It had been a long time since he saw him like that. The last time when his wife was taken. "He is your friend right? Do you want to make him suffer like you do?"

He pointed over to Genis. Foolish young boy. He never valued Raine for what she was. That was why he hated him so much. He always overlooked the most simple things, but still he dared to shed tears over her lost.

"She is mine", Mithos said finally, looking over to Kratos again.

"We will get her back!", Lloyd suddenly screamed. He apparently was still to weak to stand up against him and the others seemed to be either in shock or just realized they were too weak to fight him. Mithos didn't want to fight anyway. Not yet.

"There is nothing anyone could do to stop me. Raine is already with Pronyma..." He looked over to Zelos, Genis than back to Lloyd, smiled to them. "I really have to thank you for bringing my sister back to me." 

"_She_ is MY sister!", Genis cried in despair. Tears were falling down his cheeks and he felt his legs weaken. This just couldn't be true. His sister was kidnapped and it was all Mithos' fault?

He ran over to the other half-elf, seized his arm. "Tell me this isn't true! You're my friend!"

"Are you really this naive?" Genis felt a pain in his body and hit the ground. "We were never friends, Genis. I just did what it takes to reach my goal. If you'll excuse me, my sister awaits me."

He could do nothing but watch Mithos turn around. In a flash he changed to his adult form, spread his wings. First Genis did not notice that Colette went to his side.

"Please Mithos stop. Do you really think Martel would like you to just steal someone else sister? I beg you..."

"Silence! I refuse to take orders from a filthy human like you!"

_What_ did they know? Those pathetic humans took his sister in the first place. He just took what was his. The blonde chosen started to talk again as well as a few other of the humans in the group, but he became deaf to their words. Yggdrasil turned around a bit, raised a hand.

"It is my decision. Not yours."

He summoned his magic, concentrated for a few seconds. Lloyd saw it first, reacted to it by running up to him with his swords in his hands. Just before he reached him, Yggdrasil could complete his spell and with a bright white flash time stopped for everyone but angels, meaning Kratos, Zelos, Colette and himself. Everyone else was frozen. Lloyd still in the air, Genis broken sitting beside Colette's feet, Sheena, Presea and Regal charging for a frontal attack. Foolish humans.

"Woh what the...", he heard Zelos, while Colette seemed to be just as puzzled as him.

"Do not even try to stop me", Yggdrasil said before he turned around again. "And Kratos: if you are not with me, you are my enemy. Do you prefer to be with your son, who doesn't even know, or with an old friend?"

"You are not who you were back than, Mithos."

"Then it's settled." He closed his eyes. Such a pity. Kratos' company was the only human one he ever accepted. "If you dare to come to the tower again, I will make sure you won't survive. All of you."

He let himself fall from the platform, headed for the tower of salvation. Until his spell faded he would be already at the tower of salvation and those who were able to move would not dare to follow him. But there was more important things he had to take care of now. After all he did not want to loose his sister again.

"_Wait_ we let him go?", Zelos asked as he looked over to Kratos. For a second he was about to run after Mithos, but what could he do by himself? The realization that Mithos never intended to keep his promise hit him pretty hard and he got really angry at him. It was planned that he led the group to the tower, there take Colette and Raine with him. Then he would've been able to free both of them and get out before anyone would have noticed a thing. He just wanted to get into the tower for a special item, but because he did not know where it was he needed Pronyma's help.

"We don't have a choice", Kratos said while he looked down to the grass. "As long as we don't have a plan, we can't do anything against it. Let's just hope Raine is stronger. Even if the got knocked out, she should recover."

"But we can't Mithos just have her! She's our friend!", said Colette as she kneed down to Genis to check up on him. But since time was frozen, there was nothing she could do.

"I can't believe I say this, but our Mr. Angel is right. We can't do anything now", Zelos said and sighed a bit. Why did he get the feeling this was all his fault?

Kratos looked over to Colette, then to Zelos. He avoided looking over to him, but usually Zelos never looked directly into someone else eyes as far as he had noticed. Still there was something strange about this whole situation.

"We should wait for the spell to fade and..."

He couldn't talk further. The power of Mithos' spell faded away and the former frozen part of the group fell over and hit the ground hard.

"Ouch. What the... where is Mithos?", Lloyd asked when he pushed himself of the ground. Surely he must feel dizzy. A small side effect of the Time-Stop-Spell.

"Gone."  
"Then let's follow him!"  
"If you want all of us killed, go ahead", Zelos said in a slightly angry tone. "We don't have anything anymore he wants. We are useless to him now, so he will just kill us if we give him a reason to."

"But what are we supposed to do?"

Kratos looked over to Lloyd, sighing softly.

"I don't know what he is planning with the professor, but what about the idea of curing Colette first?"

"Curing... Colette? What? Why? Are you sick?"

The swordsman looked over to Colette, who seemed to panic a little.

"No of course not!"

So she did not tell them. Typical for the female chosen. She always cared for everyone else but herself.

"You should tell them or else you will crystallize completely."

He walked over to her, carefully pushed her head to the side. By doing so he revealed the slight green-blue discoloration of her skin.

"Colette? What is this?", Lloyd asked, who already walked over.

"It... It's nothing... really. Please don't worry about me."  
She stepped back from him, hid the discoloration under her hair.

"It is called Chronic Angelus Crystallus Inofficium. Martel had the same disease, but there is a way to fix that."

"Chronic.. ang...whatsoever. What does it do?"

"It crystallizes the body. First the skin, then the rest of the body. It's a really rare sickness, but it always seems to affect people with a rather similar structure of mana like the one Martel had."

"And how do we cure it?"

"Three things. A fragment of mana, something like a mana leaf herb and some Zircon. But I'm afraid that without the horn of a unicorn, we can't complete the rune crest."

"Aaaand how are we supposed to get any of this things?"

Kratos looked over to them, then to the rest of the group.

"I can explain. But let's get inside first. We have a lot to talk about. That is if you are willing to listen to me."

His attention went over from Lloyd to Genis. He had to tell them the whole truth. About him, what he was doing and why he came here. He just hoped that they would understand. The group shared looks and then agreed to accompany him inside. For some reason he was afraid to tell them the truth, but there was no choice, nowhere he could go.


	6. Chapter 6

Cold

Dark

Empty

A world full of darkness filled with sorrow and despair. What exactly happened? There was just a sudden pain and then nothing.

_I couldn't show my emotions. The world regeneration is all that matters. But..._

That voice...

_I care for you._

Another voice.

_They are much better than any of you!_

Where did all these voices come from? They echoed and then disappeared into nothingness. But did they really echo? This pain was unbearable. There were chains, tight so it was hard to breath, something leaking from deep inside.

_Stop this! What were you thinking?_

Just stop this voices. There was just darkness everywhere. Where the heck was this place?

_We were born and raised in the village of the elves..._

Village? Elves? What was this about. All this voices made no sense. Make it stop...

**Who are you?**

What?

**You heard me. Who are you?**

I'm... I...

**I ask one last time. Who are you?**

I don't remember...

**I see... **

What is this place?

**You tell me.**

I can't tell anything.

_Filthy humans! Everything you do is take!_

What are these voices.

**Echoes of the past, I suppose.**

Echoes... memories maybe? Yours or mine?

**Both.**

What?

**We are part of each other. I am the one you rejected.**

_This child is dangerous! Take it and go away!_

That voice... I remember that. Why do I feel so weak? And what are you?

**Then one you sealed away.** **But it is not like you can resist now. I am you, you are me. We are inseparable. Just a little longer and we can be what we were supposed to be so long ago.**

Why?

**For all those ungrateful humans...**

Stop it...

**For all those pitiful elves...**

I said stop it!

**And all those in between...**

"_What_ the hell do you mean? Professor Sage had a Cruxis-crystal?"

Lloyd definitely sounded confused about what Kratos said just a few minutes ago.

"It's just like I said. Mithos came back a few days ago to the tower of salvation. There he demanded one of our oldest crystals and ran off again. I suppose that he convinced the professor into equipping that crystal. If she did, she most likely suffers from the angel toxicosis."  
"I can imagine", Regal started. "that Raine is far to intelligent to equip such a dangerous thing as a Cruxis-crystal without a Key Crest."

Kratos sighed lightly. "Cruxis-crystals work in a different way than Expheres."

"What do you mean?"

"These crystals absorb mana over the years and grow stronger. They also slowly absorb both the conciseness and the mana of a wearer if they are not equipped with a proper Key Crest. Because of that most of the ordinary Key Crest are not strong enough to cancel the power of an older crystal."

"Maybe that's why she acted so strange lately", Sheena guessed. The group sat together in the small house, but while Kratos preferred to stand, the others kept a little distance. In their eyes, Kratos was still an enemy. Sheena looked over to Zelos, who was standing by the window and stared into the dark night. "Didn't you notice anything when you were in Sybak together?"

The chosen turned around and looked at the assassin. "Nah. She locked herself up in her room and refused to talk about anything."

"Are you sure? You two seemed to get along pretty well."

"Just because she turns her back to me doesn't mean she trusts me. Talking about turning backs..." He looked over to Kratos. "Just when did you intend to tell Lloyd?"

"Tell me what?"

_Kratos_ went silent and crossed his arms. All of the others eyes lay on him and he felt the rising pressure. This time had to come, sooner or later, but still he wasn't prepared for this. There was so much to say, but no way to explain it all.

"So what?", Zelos started again after some minutes of silence. "Are you going to tell him or do I have the pleasure?"

Still he preferred to say nothing.

"So?"

Lloyd looked over to Zelos.

"Seems you can't get anything out of that statue. You and mister Angel here are father and son."

"What? You're joking right?", Sheena said and slapped Zelos' arm. "You should not fool around with such things."

"Ouch! But I'm not kidding. Colette heard it, too."

Kratos got up as Lloyd and Colette started discussing if Zelos was telling the truth or not. She heard Yggdrasil as well, so Lloyd slowly started to believe the chosen. She would never lie after all, not to Lloyd. Most of the group seemed to be just as shocked as the swordsman was, but they tried to talk to him. This whole situation was far to chaotic for him to bear, so Kratos decided to go outside. They all were busy to calm down Lloyd, who started to go crazy about him being his father. Strange... he was so much like Anna and he didn't even know her. One day he would tell him the whole story, but for now Lloyd had to ease his mind.

_He_ didn't notice that Zelos was following him. The redhead had his own problems to deal with. Sure this whole father-son-story was very exciting, but Raine was still with Mithos. Also there was something else that troubled him for a long time now.

"Kratos."

The brownhead jumped a bit, turned around and looked at Zelos. Since it stopped raining Kratos stepped out to the platform, looked in the cold night sky.

"What is it?"

"I want to ask you something."

"So?"

Zelos turned around and looked through the window, where he still saw the others.

"Come on."

The chosen walked through the houses to another platform, followed by Kratos until they reached a lonely one without houses or any people.

"What do you want, Zelos? You must have a reason to drag me out here."  
"I have. It's about Raine."

_He_ could see how Kratos stiffened, but trying to hide it. So it was true after all.

"What about her?"

"I know about you and her."  
"So she did tell you after all."

"More or less. I never got her so far to tell the whole story. Especially after this whole Cruxis-crystal-thingy. I want you to tell me."  
"And why on earth should I do that."  
"In some way you are responsible for this situation. As far as I can guess she equipped that crystal because you hurt her pretty badly. If the others find out they'll rip you into pieces."  
"You wouldn't dare..."

"Try me."

_Who_ did he think he was? Zelos had no right to put his nose into things he didn't knew about. Kratos really didn't want to get blackmailed, but he didn't have a choice. Stupid chosen.

"Fine. But under one condition."  
"That is?"  
"You tell your friends you are working for Yggdrasil."

"You know I can't do that. There is no other way to get this thing for the eternal ring. What was it called?"

Curses. He forgot about that for a second.

"You need to tell them eventually."  
"Yeah sure. My problem not yours. So spit it out already."

"Why do you want to know so badly?"  
"Again: not your problem."  
"I think it is. After all it's really personal."

"My reason is really personal, too. What will you do about it?"

Kratos could only take a very wide guess, but trusting his senses, Zelos had other intentions why he wanted to know the whole story than just being able to blackmail someone. He sat down on the edge of the platform, sighed softly and looked back up into the stars. The last time he saw such a clear night sky was back in Luin...

_It was soon after the little group, containing Lloyd, Colette, Genis, Sheena, Raine and Kratos rescued the inhabitants of Luin from the human ranch and got back to Luin to rest till the next day. It was a clear and rather cold night since it rained just a few hours before that. Still the whole city was in ruins and there were no survivors since the rescued humans went to Hima first. The whole day was very strange. Ever since they saved the humans and killed Kvar, none of them spoke a word if not necessary. Also Raine seemed to be deep in thought._

_'...usually, in this type of structure, there is always an emergency exit...'_

_'Can you tell me how you know of places like this?'_

_'…'_

_No answer. He never told her. This was exactly why she was so troubled. Ever since this journey began, the mercenary seemed to know a lot, but didn't share any of this. Also every time she asked about it he went silent and kept his distance._

"_Kratos", she finally started. "May I talk to you for a second? Alone if possible."_

_He still didn't answer her. Instead he got up and walked ahead. Raine put down her book she was reading up to this point and followed him to the docks, but stayed away a few feet from the water._

"_What is it?", he asked, but refused to look at her._

"_I demand answers, Kratos. The more I ask of you, the more you turn your back."  
"Is it so surprising? I'm a mercenary. I am not supposed to be your friend."  
"That is not what I'm talking about. You have a secret you try to hide. I want you to tell me."  
She watched his hand as he lay it on top of his weapon._

_Kratos looked over to her and determined her very closely. There was no way he could talk himself out of this. She seemed troubled and avoided looking into his eyes. There was one thing he was thinking about for some time now in order to prevent her asking too much about him and his motives, but he doubted it was possible. Still there was a possibility._

"_I maybe have a secret. But as I just told you..." He walked over to her, stood right in front of her and looked down on her. "...I'm not supposed to grow close to anybody. So I preferred to stay my distance."_

_The half-elf looked at him in surprise, blushed a little. He expected her to immediately understand._

"_W-What?"  
"I travel around a lot, so it is only naturally that I know a lot of things. But I feared as I expose too much of myself, I start to care more for someone than I want it to be."_

_He put his hand on her heated cheek as she looked down on his feet. Kratos had to smile a little. Ever since he met her he never saw her speechless._

"_I couldn't show my emotions. The world regeneration is all that matters. But maybe we could keep this to ourselves. That means... if that is okay with you. After all I can not tell about your feelings."_

_He could hear her heart pound in her chest, her breath racing. As he guessed this was not what she was expecting to hear from him, but since she didn't yell at him up to now, maybe he could do one more step. The less she asked, the better. Sure she would be hurt once they reached the tower of salvation, but it was not like he did this the first time. He did not feel anything anyway. Slowly he leaned down to her, pushed her head up a bit and kissed her carefully. No he didn't care at all..._

… But once back in the tower of salvation, after the group escaped, Kratos noticed that he did care. He still remembered how she was looking at him, felt her eyes in his back just like that day when he took Colette with him. He knew she was watching them riding the dragon to the tower. Still they didn't follow immediately. But it was not like he was about to tell any of this to Zelos.

"_So_ you tricked her", Zelos said after Kratos finished. "You can't treat a woman like that. No wonder she's so angry with you." Actually he was more angry that he treat Raine with such disrespect. For every other woman he may had looked away. Zelos was still standing a bit behind the mercenary.  
"I did not have a choice."  
"Just like you had no choice to tell Lloyd that you are his father?"

Kratos stood up, looked over to him with quite an angry look in his eyes.

"Lloyd is none of your business and so are my intentions."

"So? If you had the chance to do it again, would you keep quiet? About him being your son? Would you hurt Raine again just so you can be save?"

"I did what I think was right! It was necessary to distract her from my true identity!"

"So? Then let me tell you something." Zelos walked over to Kratos, pushed him a bit towards the edge. The chosen started to raise his voice in anger and he became louder very quickly. "Listen closely, since I'm not going to tell you this twice: if you ever dare to lay your eyes OR your dirty hands on my girl again, I swear I'll rip them out and off and shove it up the hole you have in your face! Did I make myself clear?"

With that he angrily walked back to the inn, leaving Kratos behind. He did not really intend to have such an outburst, but the arrogance of this person was far too much to bare. Sure he wasn't the holy one himself either, but at least he had standards. One of it was never to hurt a woman. He rather was the knight in the shining armor. Surely he hurt a woman's heart once in a while, but he never used them in such a low way.

_Wow_. Not really what he was expecting to hear. Kratos still stood on the same spot where Zelos had left him. He didn't even have the chance to defend himself, but was there anything to defend? On the one hand Zelos' threat was troublesome, on the other hand... why was he threatening him anyway? He thought that Zelos and Raine got along pretty well, but only because they had to. Then again, maybe this was exactly the kind of distraction the professor needed. Without feelings, without any restrictions. He watched the group for a while when they first arrived in Tethe'alla and she seemed pretty down for a long time, even though she tried to hide her feelings. Great now he had regrets. Raine deserved so much more than Zelos...

Maybe there was a way to at least check if she was alright. Kratos spread his wings and flew off the platform.

_As_ Zelos entered the inn again, the group seemed to have settled down a little. All except Sheena were in their beds, which were spread throughout the big room.

"I didn't know you missed me that much honey", Zelos said in a lower voice to prevent to wake the others. He was still angry, but there was no need to tell Sheena.

"Where's Kratos?"

"Still outside. I don't know."

She stared down to her feet. The assassin was sitting at a table, a cup of tea in her hands.

"Zelos? What do you think we should do now?"

"It's new to me that you ask for my opinion."

"It's not only me. All of us are confused what to do next. A lot has happened the past few hours. We can't get to Raine and also Lloyd is uncertain how to react. Also Colette's sickness hit us all pretty bad."

The chosen sat down by her side, crossed his arms behind his head and stared into the darkness of the room. Here and there you could hear a sheet moving.

"No clue. But I think we should go on like we did before. Making pacts and such. Oh and helping little Colette."  
"Why? Some of us don't have the strength to move on."

Surely she was thinking about Genis.

"It's not my thing to think this way, but if we don't who does? I'm pretty sure Raine can handle herself and you'll see that Lloyd will be an idiot like he was before around tomorrow. Also I wouldn't wonder if we run into the cool beauty in the future."

Sheena puzzled looked over to him.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, think about it for a second. Mithos thinks of her as his sister, so he won't hurt her. If she wants to go, he will let her. There's no way Mithos can convince Raine to turn her back on the little brat."

He stood up, yawned a little.

"Well I'll go to bed. See ya tomorrow."


	7. Chapter 7

_The_ group decided to go on just as Zelos suggested, but not without a lot of convincing. Kratos, a bit damaged, also returned in the morning, but refused to tell the group where he went. Still they all agreed that the ex-Cruxis-member was allowed to join their group once more, most of all so they could keep an eye on the angel.

"Are you serious? We can't let the professor's stuff just behind!", Lloyd protested as they were discussing what to do with Raine's bag and staff. Genis took his sister's most important book, which she wrote in elven-language, but the rest of her things were far too heavy and would hinder the group from moving forward quickly.

"None of us can bear the extra weight", Kratos said. "Also most of this things are junk."

"Just because...", the swordsman started, but Regal interrupted him.

"Lloyd think about it. He is right."

"I can keep her things as long as you are searching for Raine", the half-elf, who told them about Virginia, said and walked over to Lloyd. "When you find her, you can just pick it up here. I promise to take care for it."

"Well... alright I guess. I just hope we can find her quickly."

"Of course. And what are you going to do now?"

"We will make pacts with the rest of the summon spirits. There are only three left. But first of all we need the other ingredients for Colette's rune-crest, so we will head for Heimdall."

"Then good luck to you."  
"Thank you."

_So_ the group went back to their Rheairds, where the others already waited. Genis was still very absent from the whole situation. All he could think about was getting his sister. He knew that Mithos wanted his sister badly, but it wasn't the right thing to take Raine instead. He was worried sick. As long as he could remember, Raine had always been by his side, protected him even if it meant to hurt herself for this purpose. During their journey through Sylverant, Raine often starved just so he had enough to eat. They had to save her at all costs.

_It_ took the group a few hours until they reached the Ymir-forest. Kratos knew the exact way by foot, so they made it through there in no time. They did not expect a formal invitation, but what they got was much more troubling. Since they got the princess' permission, it was no problem to actually get inside the forest. Some elves stopped them just in front of the village.

"Wait. What is your purpose in this village?", the soldier asked while denying them the entrance to the small village. Kratos stepped forward just before Lloyd could protest.

"Lord Kratos. I see you..." But then he saw Genis with the group and stopped. "No. This half-elf can not get in. I am sorry."

"What? You can't do that! He's our friend!", Lloyd almost screamed at them. The whole day he had been a bit sensitive as soon as it got to his friends.

"It should be okay. I will watch for him."  
"I still can't do that. It is the law after all."

Lloyd wanted to start arguing again, but Genis pulled at his arm and the swordsman looked down to his friend.

"It's okay. I'll... I'll just wait outside."  
"But that's not fair!"  
"I don't want to make trouble. Please Lloyd."

Presea walked over to them.  
"I will stay outside, too. You need to help Colette", she said and looked around. Lloyd hesitated again, but then sighed.

"Alright..."

"Once we meet the Elder, we can talk to him once more", Kratos interfered and lead the group through the village. It was small, with narrow streets and surrounded by a small river and a small lake in the south-eastern direction. The elves outside watched them closely and some of them hid their children or made them go inside. They didn't even try to make them feel welcome, but none of them expected that they were. They walked until they reached the village square, where a small group of elven-soldiers and an old elf already awaited them.

"Kratos. It is good to see you again", the old one said.

"Elder. I'm overjoyed", Kratos answered, but was very cold while doing it. They walked over to them but just before the angel or anyone else got the chance to speak, Lloyd interfered once more.

"Why can't our friend come with us? Just because he is a half-elf doesn't mean he is a bad person."

The elder seemed confused about Lloyd's behavior. Elves were known for their strict rules and their traditions, so the young man seemed to confuse them a little.

"Half-elves are not allowed to enter this village", the elder explained once more. Kratos crossed his arms as he watched over to the elder again.

"So why..."

The appalled face of the elder interrupted him and as he followed the direction of his view, he saw Genis and Presea walking towards them.

"This can't be..."

"Genis! Presea!"

The main part of the group quickly got over to the two kids, happy to see them.  
"So they let you inside after all", Colette said in her happy voice. "I'm so glad."

"They didn't really let us inside", Genis said with a half-smile. "Presea knocked them out."

"O-Oh... I hope they are not hurt."

"Permanent injuries: 2%"

Lloyd laughed as well as the rest of the group.  
"Yeah that's Presea."

"Boy!", the elder suddenly screamed. "Your name! What is it?"

Genis looked over to him, blinked in confusion.  
"It's Genis. Genis Sage."

"Your mothers name. Is it Virginia?"  
"Uhm yeah. Why?"

One of the soldiers leaned over to the elder.  
"Elder you think..."  
"I know. Tell me what you want and then leave the village immediately! We do not want your kind in here!"

_Kratos_ raised an eyebrow. He never saw the elder this outraged and the other elves also took a few steps back. Right now he was just glad that he had everything prepared. Martel once had the same decease as Colette and just for this purpose he got the ingredients.

"Do you remember the package I brought to you? I wish to retrieve it."

The elder turned to a woman, nodded over to her. Said woman walked inside a huge building at the end of the village square. The group started arguing again, but Kratos knew it had no use. Elves were stubborn and very strict with their rules. But the rule that half-elves were not allowed in the village was quite new to him. It had been quite some time since he last visited the village, but half-elves were never really a problem. As long as they had proper company they were not seen as threat for the elves. Kratos looked around. Now that he thought about it, the village had changed a lot since his last visit. Most of the houses were knew and even the wood of the elder's house was definitely new. Although he did not dare to ask about it, he had to find out what happened. Too sad he couldn't ask Virginia anymore. It was the last person he could think of to ask about the events that happened in this village.

(sorry that I need to be skipy again, but the next part is really boring)

_It_ only took them minutes to a few hours to get the package Kratos demanded. Inside where all the ingredients for Colette's rune-crest, much for the satisfaction of various group-members. Since Colette's sickness almost already crystallized her entire skin they had to act quickly. However to actually get back to Altessa already took them half a day, making said crest almost two days. Gladly the crest was working, so they made their way back to Sylverant in order to make pacts with the last of the summon spirits, meaning Ifrit, Sylph and Luna/Aska. They decided to save the summon spirits of light for last. During all this time the mood within the group was more or less well. Genis tended to fall into depression, pulled back a lot just like Raine did when she was still with them. Kratos was busy thinking about Heimdall as well as how the pacts would affect the mana-links. He knew that they were supposed to save and isolate the great seed from the worlds, but what exactly would happen when all mana-links were broken? No one could tell for sure.

"_Guys_?", Lloyd said as they left the temple of fire. Now only Luna and Aska were left on their list. The others turned around to him. "Would it be too much to ask to visit dad today? I need to ask him something."

"Dirk?", Kratos asked and looked around. The others seemed unsure what to do. "We could stock up in Iselia, so I think it's a good idea."

"Then what are we waiting..." Sheena was interrupted by a strong earthquake. Colette, Presea and Genis fell down, the others just found their balance in time. A few rocks fell down the cliff, but luckily no one was hit or hurt. "Wow that was strong."

"It appears the earthquakes get stronger every time we make a pact."

Lloyd looked over to Kratos.  
"Did this happen when you were making pacts?"

"No. We last time we made pacts it was in order to save the great seed and the split worlds. Maybe it's not a good idea to make these pacts..."  
"But we have to", Lloyd said loudly. "Or is there a way to reunite the worlds?"

"The eternal sword. But none of us can handle it."

"Wh... What? Why?"

"Only half-elves are allowed to use it. It was one of Mithos' tricks in order to prevent anyone from using it."

The group looked at each other, Regal growled slightly.

"And there is no way?"

"Maybe we can think of something. But even if we are able to use the sword, Mithos' pacts with the summon spirits would prevent the reunion."

"And why is that?"

"If the worlds are reunited from someone else than Mithos, the summon spirits will block each others mana and the great seed would die."

Lloyd crossed his arms and looked over to the others.  
"So... we still make pacts right?"

Kratos nodded.  
"That's all we need to know. But let's go to dad first, alright?"

Everyone agreed and they left the Triet-ruins behind, headed to Iselia's direction on their rheairds.

_Iselia_. How long has it been since he and Lloyd were banished from there? Surely they wouldn't enter the village, even if he wanted to know what happened to his and his sister's house. Raine had been so happy when they finally got their own house in Iselia and most likely it was gone now. Again he had no home to return to, but most of all he missed his sister. She once told him that they were always at home as long as they were together. Of course he had been very small back then, but her words were still in his heart. More than ever before he missed her. As soon as they got to Mithos, he had to ask him why her. Why his sister? She never did any harm to anyone as far as he remembered. Well not without a very good reason.

"Hey brat! Breaking your head while thinking doesn't help anyone."  
Zelos cut his thoughts very drastic. Stupid chosen.

"Just shut up Zelos", he shouted back. "Mind your own business."

"Fine. But it's not my fault if you crash into the mountain."

Irritated Genis looked forward. They were already close to the little mountain with the human ranch. Behind the forest was Dirk's house. Did he spend so much time daydreaming and being depressed?

_The_ group landed a few feet away from Dirk's place. There was not enough space for of them to land, so they chose a bigger square without trees. Kratos didn't feel well coming back to this place. After all his wife was buried here. He felt terrible that he couldn't do it himself, but at least he didn't had to bury his son, too. He looked over to Lloyd, who put the Rheairds into the wingpack. Together they walked over the small bridge.

"Dad! We're back", Lloyd shouted nearly. The swordsman clearly enjoyed being back. It must have been a long time since the two of them saw each other. For Kratos time didn't matter anymore and he stopped counting the years a long time ago. Dirk stepped outside.

"Ah. I wondered when you would finally arrive", he said in his typical dwarfish accent.

"Uhm... you were expecting us?", his son asked confused and Dirk's impression told them that he also did not know why Lloyd was behaving this way. But instead of just standing there like idiots, he waved them inside.

"Come on. I think there is much to talk about."

Something about this was strange, but they followed the invitation. Inside the smell of strong tea filled the room and immediately they saw a figure sitting at the table, a familiar one, too. White hair and a similar white coat with yellow edges... but this was impossible. But as she turned around all of their jaws dropped.

"Professor!", some of them shouted surprised while the others just stood there in shock.

_This_ was... not possible. Mithos would never ever let her go, even if he had to kill her instead. Zelos just stood behind the others and watched her as she stood up, smiled and turned around to them. She seemed slightly changed. Instead of the usual orange coat she had a longer, white one with yellow edges and a few black symbols. Also she had some white gloves and even white boots. On her boots were some bright blue, wing-like markings, but you were only able to see them if you examined it closely. But the most noticeable differences were at her hair. It was slightly longer, surely because of the time passed since she left, but it was less strict yet still tidy, so you were able to see the tips of her ears. Also she had a bright gray-white scarf which hid her neckline, so he couldn't tell if she was still wearing the Cruxis-crystal.

"You really took your time. I expected you sooner", she said as she smiled over to them. The next thing he saw was Genis running over to her, hugging her and holding her closely.

"Raine! We thought you were gone!"

"Well it took me some time, but here I am."

Lloyd, Sheena, Regal, Colette and Presea walked over to her while Kratos and Zelos stayed behind and just watched over to her.

"_Professor_ how did you do that? I mean fleeing from Mithos and such."

"Well it wasn't easy. Pronyma hit me pretty hard on the head back in Exire. So I hope you excuse me when I seem a bit confused", she said while putting one finger on her temple. "I needed some time to recover, but when I did I took the opportunity to flee here. This was around... I think two days ago."

"We are just happy to have you back, professor. You need to tell us about what happened."

She smiled over to them.

"Let's just calm down right now, okay? There is time to talk later."

_Raine_ lay one hand on the small half-elf's head who began sobbing a little. She didn't expect him to let go within the next to minutes, but that was alright. She expected them to behave that way. Just the two magic swordsmen in the back still seemed to be in a greater shock than the other ones.

"There, there", she said while stroking the soft white hair of the little half-elf. "Calm down. I'm here now okay? All of you should get some sleep. It's late. We can talk tomorrow."

"She's right", Dirk said. "I'll get you something to eat. Lloyd please prepare the beds for your friends."

_Lloyd_ did how he was told to, ran up the stairs. Because there wasn't enough place for everybody, they decided that they would camp behind the house. There was a little square of grass, just big enough for the group to rest there. While they prepared for the evening, Genis never left Raine's side and also the rest of them stayed close to her. Since Raine decided to tell the whole story of her absence in the evening, the group strengthen themselves and used the time to re-calm from the shock. Dirk prepared a dwarfish-soup and Genis even prepared a desert. Also Lloyd told Dirk about their adventures and both of them also went outside for a long while, most likely to discuss something. The half-elf-woman stayed a bit distant the whole time, watched the humans closely. Zelos preferred to stay outside for an unknown reason. He put it as 'too much people and too little space'.

In the evening they all went outside and took out their and some of Dirk's extra covers in order to make it more comfortable. They sat in a circle with Lloyd closest to the door, Colette and Genis beside him, Raine at Genis' side, then Zelos, Sheena, Regal, Presea and Dirk. Kratos sat behind on a small stone.

"Professor Sage", Colette started. "Can you now tell us how you have been? We were so worried about you."

_Raine_ looked up into the sky, searched for the right words.  
"Well where to start..."

She stroke a bit of her hair behind her ear, closed her eyes and then looked around.

"When I woke up, I was at the tower of salvation. It seems I was unconscious for quite some time, but as soon as I was able to sit straight, Pronyma called Mithos and he visited me. He screamed at Pronyma as he saw that I was bleeding, but it was not that bad. I still feel a bit strange because of that, but at least the dizziness is gone. I do not know how long it took me, but when I was able to stand, I asked Mithos to tell me a little about the angels and the tower, so he showed me the place. He didn't trust me enough or at least he was worried that I would loose conscious again, but he never left me alone, not even when I was reading a few books."

Lloyd laughed. "That's our professor. You can't stop studying, can you."

Raine quietly looked over to him, not really pleased that she was interrupted, but she let him talk. As soon as he noticed, he looked down and mumbled a low 'sorry'.

"As I said... He never left me alone. That is until two days ago. I told him that I wanted explore a little for myself. But I took the opportunity to flee from the tower and back here. That's it."

A few seconds of silence.

"He did not even ask you about our plans? Anything?", Regal asked and leaned a bit forward in order to throw a small piece of wood inside the fireplace.

"I do not think that was his priority. He seemed more interested in my health than the plans."

"But professor", Lloyd interfered. "how did you escape? I thought all entrances were sealed."

The silver-haired woman stayed silent, just looked over to him. Finally she decided to speak again, however in an unusual cold voice.  
"I do not think I need to share it with you." She smiled again and looked down to Genis. "I think all of you should go to sleep now. It is getting late."

"What about you?"

"I will go to sleep later on. Do not worry about me." She stood up instead and looked around. "I will take a walk instead. After all I need to train my legs again. I was bound to the bed for such a long time."

"I'll come with you, sis", Genis said and nearly jumped up.

"No!", the professor answered angrily, but quickly found her calm again. Genis nearly jumped because of the angry tone of his sister. "I mean... no Genis. All of you and especially you need sleep. I will be back soon."

"I'll come with you", Zelos said and stood up.

"I said I do not need any companion."  
"But I need to talk to you. It's important for me."

"... Fine."

_It_ was more like escorting her. Zelos didn't intend to leave her alone within the next time. If she really fled from Mithos, he would search for her and he wouldn't forgive himself if she was captured again. Also he longed to be alone with her again.

The two of them walked away as soon as the main part of the group was asleep, into the dark woods. Zelos was still tired, but he suppressed it. They walked for some time beside each other without talking. Here and there the chosen looked over to Raine, but she was looking straight into one direction . He noticed that the way she walked was slightly different, prouder and more elegant than he was used to. The new coat adulated her and her figure, so did the rest of her clothes. It was much tighter than the usual brown trousers and the orange coat. She appeared much more feminine.

"Tell me when you are done staring at me", she suddenly said and looked over to Zelos, right into his eyes. Just now he realized he must have stared at her for quite some time.

"I... sorry. It's been a while since we had some time for ourselves."

"It has? Maybe", she said and they stopped somewhere in the middle of the forest. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"Well..." He scratched the back of his head. "I think I need to apologize."

"About what?"

"I think it's my fault that Mithos got you. I never should have suggested that we go after Maxwell. I'm sorry about that."

She just looked at him, raised an eyebrow.

"I can not remember being angry with you."

"You're not?" He was definitely surprised about that. He expected that she would scream at him because if it wouldn't have been for him, she never would have found out about her mother. Now she acted if it was nothing. Maybe her blow to the head was responsible for this. Carefully he took her hand, hold it slightly. She stiffed a bit, but let him. He pulled her closer while examining the look in her eyes. It was cold, like an animal lurking for its prey to rip apart.

"Raine? What's wrong?"

"What do you think you are doing?"

"I thought the two of us could spend some... quality time together again. I missed you so much..."

_The_ half-elf needed to control the anger raising inside, did not let her temper take over. This... human was just touching her without her permission. But then again she let him, curious about what he was going to do. She could easily tell if people were lying, but he was totally honest in what he said. It could only be for he advantage.

"Quality time. And what exactly do you have in mind?"

Zelos wrapped his arms around her hips while she lay her hands on his shoulders. Her shoes made her almost as big as him, but still she had to look up a little.

"The usual. But maybe we could start with a kiss."

"You are a terrible person, Zelos."

He acted hurt, made his puppy-eyes, but she continued to look coldly at him.

"Awww. But back in Sybak you liked it. And I'm so happy you have your feelings back."

Within, she was about to hit him, but she stayed cool on the outside. Maybe if she played along, she could get him to go back to the camp more quickly. She sighed and let her gloved fingers run through his blood-red hair.

"Fine. But only one kiss and then you go back to the camp. You must be tired."

"Just a little."

_Actually_ he was dying because he needed some sleep, but she needn't to know. A kiss from his angel was far more important. He leaned forward and rested his head against hers.

"I really missed you", he whispered softly before he pushed his lips on hers, feeling some kind of salvation inside. He longed for this moment ever since Sybak and even more since Mizuho, longed for this pure and innocent kiss he could steal from her. Yet it was different than back then. A slight bitter taste, medicine he guessed, lay on her lips, strong, yet barely noticeable. He was far too much into it to care about it. She pulled back first and he breathed in more than he intended to. Just as he tried to snatch another kiss she lay one finger on his lips, smiled slightly.

"You promised, Zelos. We will have enough time later on."

Zelos just growled a bit. Now he was wide awake, but he told he was going to sleep after that. Still he hold her close to him.

"But don't go off too far okay? The others will rip me apart if you get kidnapped again."

"I am pretty sure that nothing will happen to me. Now go."

Unwillingly he released her and Raine had to nearly force him to go back. Fine he understood that she wanted to take a walk and that he needed sleep, but she needn't be so strict about it. Still he made his way back as promised and on the way he already felt how his body cried out for sleep. He lay down on a sheet close to the still burning fire and covered himself, stared into the sky. The stars were shining brighter than usual, or at least that is what he imagined. He smiled a bit at this thought before closing his eyes and falling asleep.

_What_ an complete idiot. Raine watched the redhead walk back to the little house while she stayed silent in the shadow of a tree. He could barely walk straight because of his sleepiness. Well not her problem. She turned around and made her way to where she originally wanted to go. It would have been faster to just fly there, but she could be seen, something she wanted to avoid. She wanted to head into this direction two days ago, but this dwarf got in her way. She sent a massage, but still she still wanted to talk to him personally about this whole situation, ask for guidance. Also some of the things they told her confused her.

"Hold it right there! What do you want here?", one of the guards said. She reached her destination: the Iselia-human-ranch.

"I am here to see Forcystus."

"What? You can't just..."

"Did I not make myself clear? Let me in!", she said angrily and growled a bit. Two shining rings appeared around her wrist and the guards jumped back a little. As they still did not react, she screamed an aggressive "Now!" and the gate was opened after all. Just as she passed it, a green-haired half-elf walked over to her.

"I am truly sorry. I didn't expect you so late."

"Complications. Contact the tower of salvation. I need to talk to your Lord."

"As you wish..."

_Forcystus_ bit his tongue, but stayed silent about her behavior. Just because she was in favor of lord Yggdrasil she behaved like she owned the place. However his lord instructed him to grant her every wish that she had and also to look after her. Lady Pronyma brought her to the human ranch about three days ago because she wanted to see a few places of this world. Since his human ranch was the last one intact, he had to take her.

"Please follow me, lady Raine", he said and went down the stairs to the main computer hall. He walked over to the keyboard, used some commands and an angel appeared on the screen.

"Lord Forcystus. What is the reason for your call?"  
"Get lord Yggdrasil. Lady Raine wishes to talk to him."

It didn't take five minutes and Yggdrasil appeared on the screen. Raine stepped forward and looked over to the green-haired half-elf.

"Leave us alone", she demanded and the grand cardinal went outside.

"_I_ expected you sooner. What happened?"

"Lloyd and his group found me."

Yggdrasil seemed a bit shocked and also worried.  
"This early? Does this mean you don't come back?"

Raine laughed a bit and smiled to the screen.

"Do not worry. I will come back as early as possible. But if I just leave now they will get suspicious. I would like to see what they want to do."

The blonde crossed his arms, seemed to be lost in thoughts for a few seconds.  
"Alright. But why do you want to stay with them?"

"They trust me. Also Kratos is with them."

"He... what? He is with them?"

"That is what I just said."

He grinned and lay one hand on his chin.  
"This is perfect. You think you can punish him for his betray?"

"I should be strong enough for this. Pronyma and Forcystus trained with me when I first arrived here."  
"Just don't underestimate him."  
"He should be the one worried, not me. Kratos does not know about my whole powers."

"Fine with me." A few seconds of silence. "How is your head?"

"I still feel a bit dizzy, but do not worry", she said and smiled sweetly up to him. "I regain more my strength every day. Just go on like you did before. I will be back soon."  
"Alright. But Raine? Please be careful. I don't want you to get hurt again."

"Do not worry about me. I love you too much to get knocked out again, brother." She made him smile.

"I love you too, sis."

(...unexpected, huh? You can't imagine how much I long for a fighting scene right now.)


	8. Chapter 8

"_Good_ morning, sis", Genis said happily as he got up from his place. Immediately he saw his sister sitting on a stump, reading a book she apparently got from Dirk. He saw it on the table the day before.

"Good morning, Genis", she answered and he went over to her, sat down beside her. The others were still asleep, some of them were snoring loudly, like Lloyd and Regal, Zelos looked like he was about to roll over Sheena, Presea was sleeping peacefully behind a small rock while Colette was already awake and down by the river. Kratos was missing from the place.

"Where's Kratos?"

"He went away the moment I came back. I suppose he wanted to look out for monsters."

For a second he was about to ask how she slept, but then he remembered that his sister didn't need to sleep anymore. The thought of the crystal was enough to trouble him.

"Raine? Why don't you take of the crystal? You don't need it."

"As I said. It is useful. I believe we can make further progress with it. After all I do not trust neither Kratos nor Zelos."

Genis tilted his head and looked up to his sister, frowned as he looked back to the still sleeping Zelos.

"I can understand Kratos, but why Zelos? He never did something bad. Well except for being a pervert."

_She_ stayed quiet. So they did not know about Zelos' true intentions. To be honest, she did not know either, but she could take a wide guess. Raine continued to stare into her book instead until a loud yawn drew its attention to it. Colette came back, tripped over a stone with a loud 'whoops' and crashed into a small pile of wood.  
"Colette? Something happened?", Genis asked and ran over to her. The female half-elf stayed on her spot, noticed also Kratos coming back from the woods. Colette's fall also woke up the rest of the human troupe, who got up and looked around tired.

"Good morning", Lloyd said sleepy, scratched the back of his head and got up. Zelos seemed to ignore all noises around him, because even though she could clearly hear him breathing faster, a clear sign for him being awake, he decided to let his eyes stay closed and stay in his position. The black haired female got over to him, kicked his back a bit.

"Come on, lazy chosen. You have to get up eventually", she said and the chosen just pulled his cover over his head. Raine thought she heard him saying something like 'do not want'.

"_Dad_ I'm hungry!", Lloyd said as he walked in the house. Dirk was already awake and prepared breakfast for everyone. It wasn't really much, but enough to stop hunger.

"There, there. Not so hasty. First you'll do some work. I need more wood for the oven", Dirk said and Lloyd sighed.

"Do I have to? Can't this wait till after dinner?"

"I will do it", Regal interfered. "I need some training after all. Now that the professor is back again, why don't you take the time to study some more? To recall a bit of your memory."  
"Study? Nah then I'll go get the wood."

Lloyd went faster outside than you could blink. Regal followed anyway in order to speed up the process. Genis and Sheena helped Dirk prepare breakfast while Zelos and Presea sat by the table. Presea tried to explain how to make a good luck charm because Zelos asked her about it for whatever reason. Raine and Kratos stayed outside. The female half-elf went over to Lloyd, who was already sweating because of the hard work.

"I will go into the woods to see if any monsters are around", she said. Lloyd protested.

"What? You can't go off alone again. Mithos is still after you."  
"Then I think I'll accompany her." Kratos went to her side. "We'll stay close to the house, but I think it's a good idea to make sure no one spies on us."

The swordsman didn't seem to be happy about this situation, but looked over to his teacher again.  
"Is this okay for... woah professor! What's up with your eyes?"

He didn't notice it before, but the half-elf's eyes were glowing softly in a bright blue. Not noticeable bright, but unless you saw it in a special light-angle, you were unable to notice it.

"What do you mean? There is nothing wrong with my eyes."

"I suppose", Kratos interfered once more. "the additional mana of the Cruxis-crystal supports the color of your eyes. After all it flows through your body and strengthens your abilities. In a special light it appears to be glowing."

"Wow this is awesome. I bet you can see in the dark, too, if the mana is that strong."

"Would you two stop talking about my eyes for a second?", Raine interrupted the two of them and crossed her eyes. "Kratos can come with me. Just go on with your work, Lloyd."

The swordsman raised an eyebrow as his teacher turned around on her heel and walked of, followed by the mercenary.

_Silently_ the two angels walked beside each other, just far enough to make sure they would not be heard.

"What do you want of me, Kratos?", Raine said harshly. She did not even care to look at him, just walked further. Kratos himself did not seem to care either though.

"I don't believe you just walked of like that. Mithos sees you as Martel and he would rather die than let you go."

"It was as I said. So I do not see how this concerns you."

"Because I know you are lying."

Raine stopped, looked angrily at him.

"So you accuse me of being a liar? Not everyone is like you."

"I know you lie. Pronyma never knocked you out. She crushed you feelings and the crystal did the rest. I saw you in Exire."

Her anger was gone just as quickly as it came and she stared at him for a few seconds until he turned around, mostly because she was acting most of the time.

"Fine. As I woke up my head hurt and I am missing a few memories. This does not make me a liar."

But it did not seem Kratos would take that as an answer. For a few seconds they just looked at each other.

_How_ could a person change in such a short time? This woman was not the one he promised the world to, not the one he betrayed. Raine, or whoever this was, was just a shell of her former self. He wasn't exactly trained or skilled to sense things like this, but even he could tell that something inside her had changed. Maybe it was because of the crystal or maybe because of the things Pronyma said to her, however this person was a different one. The coldness in her eyes made him shiver, her aura made it hard for him to breath. He felt this once before, but this was nearly three thousand years ago, so he didn't even remember where of at who's presence he felt it.

The mercenary looked to the direction to Dirk's house. Lloyd and Regal still made firewood and inside he could see the rest of them fooling around.

"I don't know what made you the person you are now and I don't know what you are going to do, neither your goals, but if you interfere with them or hurt them I will not hesitate."

Raine chuckled softly, made him look over to her. She smiled coldly at him. He was used to see this from Zelos, but not from her.

"Do not make me laugh, traitor", she said and crossed her arms. "They trust me more than you. If they had to choose between the two of us, who do you think they would side with? Just be careful what you say and what you do. Once you stop watching your back, I will make them rip you apart."

He guessed this, but he didn't expect this to be so bad. She was working for Mithos after all, but he bit his tongue about it. She was right about trust. None of Lloyd's group was trusting him and if he just spit out that Raine was their enemy, they would mark him a traitor again.

"They are not dump. They'll find out eventually."

"There are many ways to fool this pitiful humans. You are no difference. Or did you think by rejoining this group you would have the opportunity to excuse your treason?"

Dear Martel how he hated this attitude. She was behaving just like Mithos. Definitely he had a big influence on her while she was gone. Yet she had a point. He thought that maybe he was able to make up for his mistakes before he had to release Origin's seal, to beg her for forgiveness. However he wanted to excuse to Raine and not to this poor excuse of Mithos'... sister? Did she think of herself as Mithos' sister? Martel was nothing like this.

_It_ seemed she hit a sensitive spot. Kratos fell silent and looked down to his feet. How badly she wanted to hit him right now, but this had to wait. She had a specific plan and even this was part of it. Telling him that she was truly with the angels and not with those ungrateful humans. It was actually an important part of it all.

"Stop being depressed", she told him then. "and let us go back. Neither you nor me would be happy if they look for us."

She went ahead, but felt him follow on a small distance.

"Oh and one more thing", she said suddenly and looked over to him. They were still too far away to be heard by anybody. "If you think about telling anyone anything about me being an angel, I will deny every single accuse you throw at me." For them she wanted to be just the half-elf they thought her to be. While walking she looked through the woods and noticed the familiar face. Although she hid this so that Kratos would not notice.

_Genis_ was busy inside making breakfast for everyone, was done pretty fast and went on calling everyone together. Kratos and Raine were still missing, so he decided to go out look for them. Just as he closed the wooden door behind them he was blended by the sunlight. Though it was still quite early, the sun was standing high at the sky and made the surroundings really bright. He saw two figures walking towards the house, saw both his sister and Kratos. He was more happy to see her than him, but it was not like anyone had to know that. The small half-elf ran over to them, hugged his sister at her waist, it was as high as he could reach, and smiled as he looked up. She smiled back to him.

"You should not run so fast, Genis. You could trip and fall."

It felt great to get lectured by her again. He pulled her a bit on her coat as he wanted to go inside.

"Don't worry, sis. I'm just happy you're finally back. Come on we made breakfast. I made the pancakes you like so much."

"Well thank you, but..."

"I remember you loving his cooking a lot back in Sylverant."

_Kratos_ this stupid idiot. He knew exactly she was not able to keep anything she ate down. Furthermore she did not need to eat.

"Of course I love his cooking. Who does not?"

The other angel put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her a bit towards the door.  
"Then don't let the others wait."

Again she felt like slapping him, but she behaved herself. She bit her tongue instead and went inside. There, she sat down beside Sheena, leaned back and watched while the others were talking and laughing.

"My cool beauty", Zelos said in his flirting voice and went over to her, leaned down and looked in her eyes. "Did you miss me?"

She was told about this behavior, but not prepared. She just raised an eyebrow, but before she could act, Sheena already slapped the chosen. He held his head and got up from the floor whining.

"Can't you keep your hands to yourself for five minutes?"

"But Sheena~."

"Come on. Let's eat already. I'm hungry", Lloyd said and kept Sheena from slapping Zelos again by dragging him to the other end of the table. Genis handed some pancakes over to everybody, sat down beside her after that. Just the smell of all of this made her sick, but thanks to Kratos she had no choice, so she forced down a small amount of the pancakes. Kratos refused them completely, saying he did not need to eat and preferred to look at all of them. He sat behind her by the window and sometimes she felt his eyes in her back. Still she acted perfectly. Raine smiled at Genis, praised him for the pancakes, but left most of it on her plate. Already she felt like throwing up, but she forced it down.

"You didn't eat a lot, sis", Genis said worried and looked up to her.

"I do not feel very well. Maybe food was not a good idea this early."

"You sure about that?"  
"I am. Just do not worry", she said and smiled to him. "Go on ahead if you want mine."

Not Genis, but Zelos followed this invitation, grabbed her plate and started munching on the remaining pancakes.

"Zelos!", Lloyd cried out. "At least share!"

The two of them started fighting over her and also their own pancakes. What childish behavior... The small half-elf sighed softly and got up from his chair.

"I'll make some more."

_Later_ that day the group sat down together and looked on a large map on the table.

"Why don't we go to Palmacosta first? They have a library there. Maybe they have some information about the eternal sword and Aska", Genis suggested. They were discussing their next direction, but were uncertain where to go next. They still needed to find Aska, who was somewhere in Sylverant, but they also needed to know about the eternal sword. Kratos told them about how Mithos used the sword to split the world in two and also that only half-elves were allowed and able to use it. Since neither Genis nor Raine were using swords, they had to find a way around it.

"Sounds like an idea", Lloyd said and jumped up.

"Don't you forget something?", Sheena interrupted and looked over to him. "We don't have enough Rheairds for everybody."

"This shouldn't be a problem. I'm still an angel. I can fly", Kratos said and pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against. "I will land some distance away from Palmacosta, so nobody will see me."

"Decide quickly then. If we leave now, we can reach Palmacosta by nightfall", Raine said and got up from her chair. "And I rather not walk through the plains at night."

"What are we waiting for then?" Lloyd seemed more enthusiastic than during the days before. The others followed his example and him outside. There, he pulled out the Rheairds so they could make their way to Palmacosta. During their flight, they talked about what to do next, fooled around a bit and made jokes. Just as Raine predicted, the first houses of the harbor-town were in sight as the sun set.

"_Man_ I'm hungry", Zelos said loudly as they walked through the gates of the city. "Does this backyard town have a restaurant?"

"They serve dinner in the inn, Zelos", Lloyd said and smiled. "I'm hungry, too. So let's go okay?"  
"I can't believe you two are hungry again. We had something just a few hours ago." Genis was totally right, but they had to go to the inn anyway in order to get some rest. None of them could concentrate if they were tired.

"This town is very small...", Regal mentioned. The tethe'allan part of the group never went to Palmacosta before, so it was only naturally that they imagined it to be a little bigger.

"It's not as big as Meltokio or Altamira, but it is one of the biggest towns in Sylverant", Genis explained and the group walked to the inn close to the docs. "It also has the largest academy."

"Surely this is where you studied, isn't it professor?" Regal looked over to Raine, but she shook her head.

"I never visited a school as long as I remember."  
"Then who taught you?"

"I do not like to talk about this." She stopped and looked over to the others. "I am not really hungry. You go ahead and rent the rooms for the night. I will go and stock up our inventory."

"Great idea. I'll come, too", Sheena said and walked over to her. Also Kratos and Genis decided to follow Raine.

"Alright, but be careful." Lloyd grinned and walked to the inn with the rest of the group while Kratos, Genis, Sheena and Raine made their way to the shop.

_While_ they passed the bridge, Raine felt her heart jump a little as she looked over the water for a second. She always went a little nervous when she was close to water, so she walked as much in the middle of the bridge as possible. But just the thought of the water flowing under the stones of the bridge, the sounds of the waves crashing against the wood and stone below made her bite her tongue.

"Are you alright, Raine?", Sheena asked, who walked beside her.

"What? Yes. I am fine."

Still she felt her face being pale and her feet shaking.

"You sure about that?"  
"I am. Let us just get down this bridge. It does not seem too stable."  
Genis just laughed a bit.  
"Some things never change, right?"

(yay jumpy-time)

_Sometime_ during the night, Raine stood up from her bed, walked around in the room a bit. The others, Sheena, Colette and Presea that was, were still sleeping deeply in their beds. She did not need to sleep, but pretended to do so. No one had to know that she was still a full fledged angel.

'It's all about dominating the crystal', he had said to her. 'You are stronger that the crystal, so you shouldn't have any problems with it. You can still get rid of this pathetic mortal traits.'

But she could not decide when to have and when to not have this traits. Changing it was always bound to pain, so voice was the only thing she intended to keep. However this did not mean she had to pretend to sleep all night long, so she went outside instead, silently so she would not wake the others.

_Zelos_ was standing close to the edge of the street, watched the moon's reflection in the clear water. The sky was slowly overrun by dark clouds, so it would surely rain shortly. He didn't bring his gloves, his coat or his headband, causing him to freeze a little and his hair was blown across his face. He was still tired, but not able to sleep. Something had been bugging him, but he couldn't lay his finger on it.

"I did not think to see you awake and outside here." The chosen turned around a little and saw the female half-elf, who walked over to his side. "Why are you here?"

"I couldn't sleep. How about you?"

"Sheena is snoring a lot."

Zelos laughed a little and Raine smiled at him.

"She cough a cold. But it's no longer that bad. Last week, she prevented all of us from falling asleep."

"I can guess that."

"So how do you feel?"

She tilted her head a bit and raised an eyebrow.  
"What do you mean?"

"Well the crystal made you very sick before. Maybe you still have side effects from this chronicle... angle... hitmedead. You seem different than before."  
Raine went quiet for a few seconds, stared into the sky.

"I was gone for a long time now. I am not used to this anymore."

"I see..."  
He looked down to his feet, sighed softly. Maybe he had to pull back a little until she was fine again, no matter how much he wanted her. It was like she was a totally different person since she got back, but this made him wanting her even more. He felt a hand on his arm and nearly jumped a bit.

"Why do you not calm down? Everything will turn out just right."

"I hope so. I have a promise to keep." He lay an arm around her waist, draw her a little closer to him.

"Promise? What promise?"

It was more like a promise he made to himself, but he never told her that.

"Nothing. Just forget what I said." Zelos decided to change the subject. "Do you still have the crystal?"

She leaned up to him, breathed softly against his cheek and put small kisses on his jawbone.

"That is not important right now, is it?"

"No... I guess it's not", he mumbled silently and turned his head a little. All of his questions were gone in a blink as he felt her lips on his own, hold her a little closer and let his hand run through her hair. He felt great, but now that his head was empty, he went tired again. Raine pulled back first again, lay her arms around his chest and cuddled up to him.

"What is it, Zelos? You seem absent."

"Tired. I didn't sleep well last night."

"I saw that. You were rolling around a lot. Maybe you should use the opportunity of a bed and go to sleep."

"Awww you're sending me to bed again?"

"Well you will not go by yourself. So someone has to send you. You are useless when you are tired. I also do not want to drag you in when you fall asleep outside."

"I got it, I got it. You're right. But do I get a promise?"

"Depends which one you are thinking about."  
"I want to spend more time with you. And also if Kratos comes close to you, call me."  
"Why should I do that?"  
"I still want to smack him."

She laughed a little.  
"I can life with that. And when you are done doing that and you are not that tired, maybe... things could get interesting."

_She_ expected him to start drooling, but gladly he didn't. Still she could see his anticipation, which she did not really care about. But by doing this, she made him forget every question he may wanted to ask.

"Then I'll sleep extra long." He kissed her forehead. "Goodnight my beauty. Go to sleep soon, too."  
"I will. Goodnight."

Zelos went inside, visibly with a way better mood than before. She stayed at her place until she could no longer hear him, turned a little.

"Are you done stalking me?"

"Why are you doing this? You don't feel anything for him."

"You are one to talk."

(For the record: I waited 7 chapters to write this part)

_Kratos_ stepped out of the shadows. He watched Zelos and Raine only for a short time, but enough to see her playing with him. Was that how he treated her back then? It was disgusting to watch.

"I don't make false promises."

"Who said I do not intend to keep them. You know that we do feel if the feeling is strong enough." He could not hear any other person around, so she must have felt save to talk so freely about herself. "What do you want from me? Again?"

"I want to talk to you. Take a walk with me."

The mercenary walked ahead, heard Raine follow him with a small distance. They walked until they reached the town square in front of the town hall. A few feet away from the church, Kratos turned around and looked down at her for a few seconds.

"What do you want to reach by seducing him? None of the others would suspect you of anything."

She raised an eyebrow, smiled a little.  
"Are you worried about your little friends? How cute. You really are soft. Humans are pathetic creatures."

"You are half human."  
"I am an angel. I know you tried to expose me to the others, but it seems you have failed."

"Raine listen to me. You don't know the horrors Mithos is about to do to this world. I don't know why he let you down here, but I won't let you do anything to this world or the other."

"Sweet. So you still do want to help Lloyd to reunite the worlds. But I tell you something: you can not win." She stepped closer to him, leaned to his ear. "You want to know why he let me out of the tower? I tell you. I wanted to judge both worlds for myself. Also he told me to feel free to use my new found powers. Tell me why I do not use them on you."

Kratos strengthened the grip around the handle of his sword.

"He send you to kill me."  
"That, we decided just a short while ago. You are a traitor. But I give you one last chance." The angel stepped away into the pale moonlight. It made her look even more like a coldblooded angel than before. "Rejoin us, or I will kill you right now."

"Never. You don't know what you're dealing with. I beg of you to turn back."

Still he drew his sword as some shining rings appeared around her wrists.

"Turn back? Do not make me laugh. I am where I belong."  
"You don't. Mithos is just using you like he uses everyone else. Do you really want this whole horror to continue?"

A magic cycle appeared to her feet and Kratos felt a sudden wave of mana rushing towards him, which made it hard for him to breath. No he couldn't attack her. Raine was still somewhere inside this beast. He saw it back when she was looking at the water.

"Horror? If it is horror you want, I shall burn a true vision of terror inside this foolish mind of yours! It's time for you to die, Kratos! Pyrophlegethon!"

Pillars of fire appeared, slashed though the houses like sharp whips. One of them hit him, made him fly though the doors of the church and in some benches and was buried under them. He pushed himself up, coughed and held his chest. He was not burned on the outside, but he could practically smell his flesh being burned. Also he heard screams outside, smelled and heard the fire consuming the houses around. Quickly he ran outside again, saw Raine still standing in the same place and the town being lightened by the fire. All houses around the town square were on fire, the humans screaming and most of them fleeing.

"What have you done?", Kratos screamed at her. "They didn't do anything to you!" Not hurting her was one thing, but protecting the people of this village another. As he saw her smiling a little, his blood boiled up even more.  
"I do not know what you are talking about. This is all your fault."

"You will pay for that!"

He ran up to her, tried to hit her with his sword. Right now his anger took over. He had to stop her at all costs, but she blocked him with one of the rings around her wrist. He felt pure mana coming from them and his iron sword was shaking under the circling mana. Raine kicked his side, so hard that he was out of breath again and felt some of his bones crack, sent him flying again. This time however he managed to land on his feet. Kratos knew Raine's kicks were feared, mostly by her students, but the crystal strengthened this even more, even without a weapon like Regal used them.

"You may elude time, Kratos, but you can not escape death!"

_The_ shaking ground and screams outside woke Genis up, while he jumped out of his bed and shook Lloyd.  
"Lloyd! Wake up! Something happens outside!"

The others were also already awake and Sheena ran inside the room without knocking.  
"Guys! The whole town is burning! Kratos and Raine are missing!"

The group quickly dressed themselves with the most necessary things and grabbed their weapons before running between the panicking crowd to the town square. The closer they got to the square, the more burned down the houses were. Close to the burning church, they saw two familiar figures, apparently fighting against each other.

_Raine_ dodged another one of Kratos' slashing-combination, which was more easy than she could imagine. She knew exactly how and where he would try to hit her, blocked or dodged it every time just to hit back after she saw an opening. On the edge of her visual field she saw a group of people running through the smoke towards them, so she let the mana-rings disappear. She waited for the right moment, waited until she could get hit by his fist instead of his sword and let herself get thrown in a more or less burning pile of wood.

"Sis!", she heard Genis screaming, as well as the rest of the group calling her name and felt herself getting dragged out of the pile. She coughed a bit and felt a bit of blood running down her cheek. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. I'm fine", she said and Zelos helped her up while Lloyd stood between her and Kratos. Sheena, Presea and Regal stood beside Lloyd. Zelos healed her wounds via 'First Aid' and drew his sword afterward.

"_Lloyd_ listen. This is not how it looks like."

"Not how it looks like? You were attacking the professor AND set the town on fire! I thought you were on our side!"

"I am on your side. Listen to what I have to say!" Kratos looked over to Raine, saw her eyes glowing because of the fire she set. What was he trying anyway? Whatever he said, they wouldn't listen to him. But how could he convince them that it was the professor who was their true enemy? He couldn't fight against all of them, felt his body and mana weaken. Instead he glanced over his shoulder to the lighthouse. Maybe if he...

"Follow me", he simply said and spread his wings and flew to the top of the lighthouse.

_Stupid_ human! So close and yet so far. She needed the others to kill him so Lloyd and his little friends would not accuse her for being a murderer. But why was he not fleeing and only got on top of this building? Whatever.

"Lloyd. He used judgment to destroy this city. If we loose him now the people of this town died without justice."  
"Then what are we waiting for?", Lloyd yelled and ran ahead. The rest of them followed with herself as the last person. The ocean surrounding the way to and the lighthouse itself made her quite nervous, but she had more important things to deal with. Regal kicked the locked door in before they ran up the stairs. The door to the top was locked, too, but again the blue-haired prisoner kicked in the massive wooden door like it was just a piece of paper.

_Kratos_ was waiting for them on top. If he was lucky, he could at least show them that Raine was indeed affected by a Cruxis-crystal. Of course he knew he could never give evidence that it was her and not him who set the town on fire. However he was also confused about the spell she used. Only once before he saw this kind of magic and exactly that made him shake. But Mithos promised not to use it. This mana... no there was no doubt about it...

"Kratos!", Lloyd screamed as they arrived on top. The mercenary still had his sword drawn and turned around. "Why did you do this? Answer me!"

"You wouldn't believe me whatever I say."

"I won't forgive you for this!"

So he was trying this again. This time, not only Lloyd attacked. Sheena was already preparing her seals, Genis started casting a spell. Regal and Presea were right beside Lloyd's side and Zelos pulled Raine back a little so she was out of the fighting area before charging at him, too. It was still hard for him to breath because of his cracked ribs. Still he managed to dodge every hit the group threw at him, hardly even blocked Genis' Eruption-spell. He jumped back a little, searched for an opening. Angels were able to see quick movements a little slower than usual, so he had more time to think about it. And then he saw his opportunity. With a quick strike of his sword's handle, he hit Lloyd's stomach, sprinted past him and his friends while putting away his sword. Then he grabbed Raine off guard, forced her to jump over the edge of the tower with him. He heard the group crying out for the two of them again, saw them at the edge of the lighthouse While in free fall, she managed to regain herself and kicked him again in the sides. His ribs definitely broke at this point. In doing so, he flew back a little and Kratos accidental pulled away her scarf, too, releasing a blood-red Cruxis-crystal in a wing-like Key Crest.

"You either show what you truly are, or you meet your greatest fear", he shouted over to her before he spread his wings and flew up again.

_Raine_ looked after him, then down below. She was heading right into the ocean and not much time to think about what to do. Not that she was able to think in this situation at all. She felt her body stiffen and reacting on his own. The crystal glowed slightly as she released her wings to save herself from the threatening presence of the sea.

"_What_ do you think you're doing?", Zelos shouted at Kratos, who floated out of their range in the air, still staring down. How badly he wanted to throw his sword in his head, kill him for putting Raine in such danger. Genis, Lloyd and the rest of them started running to the stairway, but Kratos appeared just before they had the chance to go in and down.

"I'm sure you'll see in a second."

The mercenary was holding his side, had Raine's scarf in his hand and breathed heavily. He seemed to be in pain, but he deserved that. The only positive thing was, that the expected splash did never come and because it started raining, the fire would be under control.

What he saw next nearly made his jaw drop and his eyes pop out. Raine flew up to the same high as Kratos. She was shaking, although you could not tell if she was angry or scared. But this was not it. Her wings made his legs get weak. They were blue, not yellow. But not only the color was different from what he first saw, also the shape. The first time he saw her wings in Sybak, they seemed fluffy, and very soft, but what he saw there was nothing like it. Crystal-blue and sharp as razors the wings spread on her back, glowing in a cold light. He also saw the different Key Crest surrounding the Cruxis-crystal.

"_Are_ you happy now?", Raine shouted over to the mercenary. "I would have told them anyway. What have you hoped to accomplish by this? I can not forgive you for destroying the town and for taking mine or my friends' lives."

She was a good actress, he had to admit that, but even Lloyd should understand what was going on there. Kratos just hoped he would understand quickly and stop her before she could start a new attack. He wouldn't be able to dodge or endure another one. His side bleed, some bones were broken and he saw a deadly rage in her eyes. He looked over to the group, who were still standing on the lighthouse and also Zelos' face. At least one seemed to understand, so he decided to retreat for the moment. Yet he needed help to understand himself. He needed to know if this was really the teacher he met back in Iselia or the monster they locked away such a long time ago. And there was only one person to help him with that.

"You have to tell them eventually...", he said before casting a teleport-spell.

_Great_. Now he was gone. This turned out a little differently than expected, but nothing she could not handle. Slowly she floated back and landed on the lighthouse, quickly glanced over her shoulder to see if the city was still burning. It was not. The rain was already too strong. She pulled back her wings and looked over to the group, which was still staring at her.

"Professor why didn't you tell us?", Lloyd asked and took a step forward.  
"I am sorry for this. I did not want to worry you, so I decided to hide it until the time was right."

"But you can just take it off right?"

She lay her fingertips on the crystal and the Key Crest.

"Unfortunately, I can not."

"Why not? This is a working Key Crest, right?"

"It is different than yours. I had a little... incident at the tower of salvation. The crystal is connected to my body's mana. If I remove it, I would most likely die."

"But it doesn't change anything, does it?"

"It is just like Colette. I may have wings and I suppose I do have some angelic powers, but everything else is just the same." She crossed her arms and looked over to the others. Zelos was standing in the back and he had this look in his eyes saying 'I don't believe you', but it was not like she cared about that right now. Instead she looked back to Lloyd. "We need to see if the villagers are injured."

The group nodded and Lloyd ran ahead of the others, down the lighthouse and back to the town square. While running Raine suddenly felt strange watching this burned city and stopped just as they went past the church. It was so familiar, but why? She leaned against a stone wall as she felt her legs shaking, and her chest burning.

"Sis are you alright?", Genis asked who stood in front of her.  
"Yes... I am fine. Maybe fighting this early was not such a good idea after all."

She fell on her knees since her legs did not carry her anymore and Genis helped her sitting against the wall.

"I'll get Regal", Genis said and wanted to run to his friends, who went ahead, but the female hold him back by pulling his hand.  
"No. I just need a second. Let them take care of the townspeople. Just help me get back to the Inn."

She pushed herself against the wall and up the floor. Genis was not that tall, so he was no big help, but still he was at her side to bring her back to the Inn. It was one of the few houses still intact, mostly because it was on the other side of the bridge. In front of the house, the angel looked down to Genis.  
"Go and help your friends. I will get in myself."

He nodded and ran back to where they came from. Raine could hear the humans call out for help under the wreckage, but she ignored that. She did not expect Colette or Zelos to hear them, too.

Instead of going in, she went around the house and inside a narrow street where she sat down on a wooden box, where she rested for a few seconds.

"Did you send someone after him?", Raine asked and looked up. Pronyma walked out of the darkness. Mithos originally send Pronyma with her to watch after her and to train a little here and there. Now the grand Cardinal acted more like her pet.

"As soon as I find out where he went, I will."

Both of them went silent until Pronyma started talking again.

"If you excuse my curiosity... why did you destroy the city?"

"I think I missed the part where this is your concern."

"... I apologize..."

"Just do as I say", Raine interrupted her. "and go bring my brother this massage: I will delay the last pact as long as I can. Since this little half-elf has Mithos' flute, it is just a matter of time they find out that it calls Aska. I need to know what happens when they make the last pact. I also must know what he has planned for Lloyd. Now go."

Pronyma nodded, took a few steps back into the darkness.


	9. Chapter 9

(author's note: First, thank you very much for all reviews so far. Special thank you to YggiFan10, who seems to be one of the very few to really enjoy the story so far. Oh and thank you so much for the grammar lesson XD. Second, please do not point out any spelling mistakes in the reviews unless I ask to in a sidenote (you know who you are AND I'm going to ignore you). By the time you notice them, I already did, but since I'm a lazy insertbadwordhere, I just don't correct them after the chapter has been uploaded. I do my best with the grammar, but sometimes I just can speak no good english no more. Third, if you don't like the story, the idea OR the way I write, just don't read. Simple as that.

Well for the fourth and most likely most important part: If you haven't noticed already, I'm very picky about the especially Raine talks, so please pay attention to this since I consider this important for future parts. I hope you keep on reading and you like what I came up with so far. Oh and expect a LOT more chapters. The first 7 were merely an introduction... Note end)

"W-What? Who are you? What are you? What do you want in here?"

The old man's body shook in fear as he walked backwards to the other end of the room, watching the figure sitting in the big open window. All he could see was a faint silhouette, a shadow caused by the cold light of a pair of wings on the person's back. The figure slowly left the window, crawled inside the room. The bookshelves got slightly illuminated, the back of the books bathed in the soft color and reflected it faintly.

"Why are you here?", he cried out again. He hit the back of the room, felt the wall behind him as well as his legs shaking. He was scared, more than ever before in his life.

"I know who you are", the figure started talking. "and what you are doing."

"I never did anything wrong!", the man cried out.

"You, who defies the teachings of our holy church."

"No! Please don't! I never did anything that disagrees the teachings!"  
"You did threaten the chosen, did you not? You want to kill him so you can have the ultimate power within the church."

He felt his legs weaken. Just the wall behind him was holding him up this moment.

"Please...", he begged. "I never meant to."

"There is no excuse for such a crime. Our goddess and we of Cruxis bless the Chosen and every violation of our goddess' will must be punished."

He screamed in fear as the figure came closer. The soft light of the candles was consumed by the cold light of the figure's wings, ruthless eyes glimmering in the shadows. The door was forced open, but the guards inside stayed in the hallway as they saw the angel standing in front of him, walked backwards and dropped their weapons.

"I-It's Spiritua!", one of them cried out and they quickly ran away, so the angel turned the attention back to him. Still he was not able to move, petrified by the presence in front of him.

"May our goddess have mercy on your soul", the figure said, he screamed again, the smile and those glowing eyes burned inside his mind.

Just as his life ended, the warm flame of the candle was blown out.

"Good morning", Zelos said as Sheena rolled around and finally got up from her place. "Finally awake, honey?"

"Do I look like I'm still sleeping?", said assassin said and fixed her hair. The black haired girl usually had her hair open while she was sleeping, at least when it was cold like it had been this night. A quick look around and she noticed that the others were either asleep or not there. Not there meaning Raine... again. The professor went away at night a lot the past week, saying that she was unable to get some proper rest and making herself useful instead.

"Aren't we a little sunshine?"

"Where is the professor again?"

"Beats me. She asked me to take over the nightwatch so she could go check out something."

"I was 'checking out' a save way inside the town, if you must know." Raine joined them at the already burned down fireplace. She seemed to be in a unusual good mood this morning.

"Good morning, Raine", Zelos said happily, crawled over to her and grinned into her face. "Did you miss me while you were gone?"

"You have go two seconds to go back to your place before I kick that grin out of your face."

Quickly the Chosen retreated, lifted his hands in defense. Sheena could just laugh at that. Zelos was such an idiot.

"I'm sorry, beautiful. Just trying to be nice."

"However", Raine interrupted before the redhead could start whining again. "I have been close to the city and I passed some travelers. It seems that something has happened within the city walls. Maybe we should learn about it. I also think I heard some guards looking for you regarding this case." She looked over to Zelos.  
"Me? Why me?"

"I do not know. That is why we need to find out about it."

The past few days could not have been any worse for the little group. Wherever they went in Tethe'alla, they were followed by the pope's assassins who particularly tried to kill Zelos and Colette and since the Rheairds were much to peculiar, they decided to travel by foot... again. This ended in a lot of whining this time not only by Zelos, but by Sheena, Lloyd and Colette as well. Tethe'alla's cities were much further apart than in Sylverant. In order to prevent further problems, they wanted to get to Meltokio, so they could settle things right with the pope himself. Zelos didn't want to involve the king because he saw this as personal threat and if the people of Tethe'alla found out about this matter, there would have been a great mass hysteria. None of them wanted that, however since they couldn't get into the city the evening before, they camped outside by a little forest with Raine taking over the nightwatch. Sometime during the night she woke up Zelos, asking him to take over. She still wore that white coat, mostly because her other clothes were still missing and she refused to wear the dress that was still at Altessa's house, even though Zelos begged really hard for it.

(Warning: very, very uninspired little passage. Sorry to be skippy again)

A few minutes, more like hours later, the rest of the group was awake, too, but most of them still sleepy. Still they sat down together after they had breakfast for discussing the next steps.

"They locked down the sewers", Raine said. "So we need to find another way in."

"Can't we just take the front entrance and ask for the guards to take us to the pope?", Colette asked, rubbed one eye since she was still very sleepy.

"And get killed in the process. No thanks." Zelos crossed his arms behind his head and looked up into the morning sky. The sun had already risen and the bright blue color hurt a bit in his eyes. "He's mostly after me, isn't he. I could distract the guards so you guys can get in."  
"This would..." The professor couldn't talk any further, stopped suddenly in the middle of her sentence and stood up.

"Raine? What is it?", Zelos asked and got up as well. It didn't take him long to figure out why she acted like that. The sound of cracking branches and armor was in the air.

"They will find us."

Lloyd pulled out his swords.

"Then we'll defend ourselves."

Quickly the group picked up their weapons as the first soldiers already arrived. At first the soldiers, definitive the pope's guardians, got into a defensive stand, yelling some commands up to the point where they noticed Zelos.

"Wait!", one of them yelled and walked back a few steps, immediately putting down his weapon. "We're not here to fight you. We have a massage from the king. He said it is important and that you and your companions are asked to go to the castle as soon as possible."

"Me?", Zelos said in confusion and put away his sword. The guards usually sided with the pope and tried to kill him a few times by now. "Well... alright I guess? We'll go there as soon as possible."

The guards quickly retreaded, seemed to be glad that they made it out of the woods alive and delivered the massage. Regal raised an eyebrow.

"This sounds like a trap."

"Well it doesn't hurt visiting the castle anyway, does it?", Lloyd said and scratched the back of his head. "We need to go there anyways to get our ER fixed."

It was the second reason why the group needed to get to Meltokio. Only the people at the research academy were able to fix the ER that broke earlier for whatever reason. No one knew how it happened, but they needed it to get to the mines. The area was made of mountains and made it impossible to land there with their Rheairds.

So after they prepared and packed their equipment, the small group went to the gates of Meltokio, where the guards wanted to stop them at first, but then quickly let them through. Inside the crowd went on as usual. People running around in the streets, busy and carrying their things for the market or their shops or holding tightly to their personal belongings. However they left the 'normal people' behind quickly and entered the noble part of the town containing the castle. In front of said castle a few women ran up to Zelos.  
"Oh master Zelos!", one of them shrieked. "They said that you were chased. We were so worried."  
Zelos laughed and smiled at them. "There, there my little beauties. As you can see I'm perfectly fine. No one can just chase me down. I'm the great Zelos Wilder. But say my darling" the woman sighed in awe. "can you say what happened while I was gone? The town seems more busy than usually."

"You don't know? Well it's only a rumor, but they say the pope died last night."

Zelos blinked confused and tilted his head a bit. "Died you say..." He looked over to Lloyd. "Let's check that out after we got to the king, okay?"

"Yeah. Sounds important."

The red haired chosen kissed his fangirl's hands goodbye and smiled at them before going ahead.  
"I'll see you around."

Raine stayed behind, looked over to the church's tower. It got noticed after the group took a few steps. Genis was the first one to turn around.  
"Sis? Are you coming?"

No reaction. He went over to her and pulled the white edge of her coat.

"Sis? Hey Raine..."

"What?" She looked down to the small half-elf. "Actually I would like to visit the place where this murder occurred. Maybe we can find something out there."

"But we need to get to the king. He gets pissed otherwise."

Colette went over to Raine. "I would like to go there, too. I want to pray for the pope's soul."

"Then I suggest that the chosen and I go to the church. Not all of our presence is necessary. We meet again in front of the castle later."

Everyone agreed and Raine nodded slightly at them before they broke up. She and Colette took the left road which lead directly to the church.

"Professor?", Colette started half way. Actually the young woman was not in the mood to talk, but when the chosen wanted to, she was not the one to refuse her company, so she looked over to her.

"What is it?"  
"Is something wrong lately? You behave a little strange."

"Strange? What do you mean?"

"Well you haven't schooled any of us lately and you go away for hours on your own. That's nothing like you, professor."

Raine looked down the road again, still putting one foot in front of the other to reach their destination. This again. She had this conversation a lot lately and every time she thought of another excuse.

"A lot has happened lately. But keeping you safe is more important."  
"Why?"

"We do not know if Mithos is still after you." Of course he was not, but it that was not for the chosen to know. On the edge of her mind she noticed a certain person, but she decided to ignore him for the moment. "Let us hurry so we can join up with the others."

"Okay!"

Inside the castle, Lloyd and his companions knelled in front of the king, who still looked a bit pale after his illness. That means, all except of Zelos. As chosen, he never needed to kneel in front of anybody if he didn't want to.

"Welcome back, chosen one. I apologize for all the trouble you got through."

The redhead smiled.

"It was nothing I can't handle, your majesty. But why did you want to talk to me?"

"Well...", the king started and closed his eyes, apparently to think about his next words. "I suppose you heard the rumor that the pope died?"

"Yeah something like that. So the rumor is true?"  
"I fear it is indeed. But what is more important, he was murdered."

Simultaneously the group shouted "What?" and Lloyd nearly jumped up from his position.

"But who would do such a thing? I mean he was bad, but no one is worth getting killed."

"It so happens that there were two guards who saw him shortly before he was assassinated. Both of them claim that it was Spiritua who passed judgment upon him."

"Spiritua?"

"They saw a person with luminous wings, just like the chosen of mana from Sylverant has them. I want to ask you, since she is still with you, if you are connected to these cases."

Zelos stayed quiet. Colette couldn't hurt anyone, however, they still had a second angel in their group. And the recent events made him think a lot. But Raine wasn't able to hurt anybody, right? Even if the color, her behavior was different, she was still the lovely professor, not able of murdering anyone.

"I ensure you that no one of my friends have something to do with this. Maybe the guards just went crazy after witnessing the pope being assassinated."

"It seems that everything is normal here", Raine said after she and Colette entered the church, looked around for a bit. She spoke silently even though the church was empty. They walked in front of the big altar and looked up to the colorful windows. No everything seemed fine, however it was quiet. Far too quiet. Also she still felt the presence of a half-elf, a powerful one, too. That smell of many was so familiar. She looked over to Colette, who knelt down on a bench, praying silently to herself.

"Oh holy spirit", the little angel whispered. "Please help us on our journey..."

She stopped listening at this point. Not only because she was not interested, but because of the person who just entered the holy halls of the church. He closed the heavy doors behind him and turned around, walked a few steps towards the two women. Colette noticed the person as well and got up from the bench.

"Yuan", the blonde said in surprise. Raine walked to her side. "What are you doing here?"

The blue haired half-elf looked over to the two of them, crossed his arms and stayed in silence for a few seconds. Now he understood what he was told. He would recognize that crystal the scholar wore everywhere. At first he never thought the story was true, but now that he saw it with his own eyes, he had no choice but to believe. Yet there were still a few things he wasn't sure about just now.

"If you don't mind, professor" He choose to use this term in front of the chosen. "I'll take the chosen."  
"Oh but I do mind." The other half-elf pulled Colette behind her. "What could you possibly want with her?"

"I don't think this is of your concern. If you're not willed to give her away, I will just take her."

Of course there was no order from Yggdrasil to recover Martel's vessel, but this was not his goal. Just to let the situation escalate and to pick a fight. Yuan just hoped that he predicted her actions correctly, or he could end up getting beaten up. He didn't feel well to fight at a sacred place, but no one would enter right now after the pope's death. Not until the funeral.

Raine turned around a bit and looked at Colette.

"Is there a back exit?"

"Uh...Uhm the one in the office..."

"Go get the others."

Her order was harsh, not allowing any questions. At first the human tried to refuse.  
"But Professor...!"  
"Did I not make myself clear? Go!"

"But..."

"He is after you. I can not protect you forever. Now go", Raine hissed between her teeth and the chosen ran to the back of the church and inside the pope's office. Such an annoying little brat. But with her gone she was able to use her powers without getting worried. It would take the human enough time to run to her friends so she could beat down the other half-elf and to pretend he ran off. Just as the little girl was away she looked over to Yuan again. He did not move at all, so he could not possibly be after the chosen. She actually expected him to run after her.

"What do you really want?"

"I wanted to see for myself what Mithos did to you."  
"Did to me?"

"I can't tell for sure now. But I will find out." The dual-blade appeared in the other angel's hand, and he got into his fighting stance. "Prepare yourself!"

"So you really are a traitor. Fine by me. Neither will you get the chosen, nor will I allow you betray my brother."

Brother... Was she still talking about the little silver-haired half-elf he met in his base so long ago? Whatever could he want with him? Unless she wasn't talking about her real brother. The only person he was betraying was Mithos. So his former friend did confuse her mind, just as he was told. He knew this from Pronyma. Sometimes it was just to easy to get information out of that woman.

Some shining white rings appeared around Raine's wrists and Yuan felt pure mana leaking from them. He knew that way of fighting just too well, but now he needed to find out if he was right with what he suspected.

"I heard you beat Kratos. I have to say, I am impressed. But don't think I'll hold back like he did."

She grinned.

"I hope you do not."

"I still find it worrying that both of the guards gave the same testimony, independent from each other", the kind said, still looking over to the little group including Zelos. The chosen himself looked over to the side on the red carpet and got lost in thoughts. Who could have killed the pope? And why? He was sure that Kratos would never murder anybody without a very good reason and he didn't think that Mithos was ordering it either. The only solution he had was that someone from outside interfered, maybe Yuan or one of his people.

"Do you have some more hints for us, your majesty? Maybe we could investigate in that case."

"I was hoping you suggest this, chosen one. I heard of your success in several other actions you took. The guards, who witnessed are in one of the guest's rooms. Let one of the maids take you there."

"Thank you, your majesty. Oh and my darling princess", he said and smiled over to the princess, bowed a little. One of the maids lead them through the corridors, while the group talked about the pope's murdering and Spiritua.

"So...", Genis started and looked over to Presea. "The legend of Spiritua exists here, too? But she was a chosen, right? So why are the people over here so afraid of her?"

Regal looked down to the little brat, raising an eyebrow. "Chosen? Spiritua was an angel."

"Angel...", the little half-elf repeated. "She wrote the chronicles of the world regeneration on our side. And she's said to be a chosen. So how does it come that she's an angel over here?"

"I guess the chosen himself knows the story best", the blue haired man said and looked over to Zelos, who was staring down the corridor as the walked. However he didn't seem to notice that he was talked to. "Zelos!"

The redhead jumped a little. "What? Don't startle me like that. You're giving me a heart attack."

"Spiritua's legend. I was hoping you could tell us since you are the head of the church now."

"Spiritua? Uuuuhm... let me think. Spiritua is considered a guardian for the chosen of mana during their journey. It is said that one of the kings of Tethe'alla wanted to kill one of the past chosen so he could be the only power in politics and the church of Martel. He arrested the chosen under false pretenses and wanted to execute him in front of the palace. But just before he could be killed, he called out to Martel and an angel was sent from the heavens. Said angel was Spiritua and she slay the king in front of the people for defying the teachings of the church."  
"Ever since no one dared to lay hands on the chosen again", Regal added after Zelos finished his story. "The fountain in front of the castle was built there to honor Spiritua and to make the people remember the event."

"She's a big deal here then, too", Lloyd said and just as he finished there was the sound of breaking glass on the other end of the corridor followed by quick footsteps. "What the..."

A faint, but just too familiar female voice was heard between the angry screams of the servants. "S-sorry!"

"That's Colette!", the brown haired swordsman said immediately and ran to that direction, followed by his friends. After a short time they already saw the blonde angel running up to them. She tripped over one fold in the carpet and fell down before Lloyd's feet.

"Ow..."

"Colette. Are you alright?"

He helped her up. She looked confused and she was shaking.

"Y-Yeah. But... the professor... Yuan... the church..."

"Colette calm down", Sheena said and walked to her side. "Breathe and tell us what happened."

"No time..."

Inside the church the fight already raged. Raine had grabbed one of the candlesticks, broke of the bottom part in the process, in order to get a better defense against Yuan's dual-blade. Still he was more difficult to defeat than she first thought, not showing mercy as he promised. He interrupted her when she was about to cast a stronger spell, dodged or parried the weaker ones and forced her to concentrate completely on hand-to-hand melee combat since she did not get enough distance. However the battle was not really one-sided. Raine managed to get a few hits on Yuan with either the candlestick or the mana-rings around her wrists. Yet she took some damage mostly from his dual-blade.

One hit and she was sent flying into one of the benches, which moaned under the weight before it broke. Gladly she did not feel any pain or else she would have been immobilized for a short time. She had just enough time to catch her breath before she rolled on her side and dodged the blade. It crashed into the cold stone and sparks flew up into the air, leaving a mark. She turned around a bit in order to get more grip before she aimed for his side with the candlestick. The other half-elf barely blocked it by pulling the dual-blade just in time in front of his body, but could not avoid being sent flying again. The white haired woman stood up and the two of them looked at each other. He was testing her, not fighting properly.

"You are a bad actor, Yuan", she said and wiped off a few drops of blood from her cheek.

"And you can do better than that."

"Maybe I am not trying."  
"Well you better should."  
And exposing all of her abilities? No way. It was just a matter of time until Colette returned with her little friends and she was not willed to get caught red-handed doing a more powerful spell. To give the traitorous angel a runaround should be enough for now. She strengthened the grip around the golden pole and ran up to him again.

As far as he could tell to this point, the two of them were equal to each other, however both of them were holding back a lot. Yuan has been able to land some hits because he got her by surprise after he was able to repel some of her kicks, this oh so familiar moves. She wielded the candlestick like he handled his dual-blade, but she didn't seem to make use of the mana-rings around her wrists too much other than to defend herself. Yuan couldn't tell if she was doing it on purpose or because she just didn't know how to use them as a weapon.

He ducked under the blow, parried the second one with his blade and held her in her position. In the corner of his eye he caught the shining rings like solid material floating around her wrists in midair.

"... I see..."

"You see what?"

Yuan just smiled a bit.

"I see that there may be still hope for you."

He sent a small electroshock through his blade and pushed her backwards in the process to gain some distance. His blade disappeared and he crossed his arms. Even if this was only a test, he still felt exhausted.

"I think this should be all for now."

"So you intend to run off?" The mana-rings disappeared and he felt that she locked the leaking mana back inside.  
"I would call it tactical retreat."

"Call it what you will."

The wooden door from the pope's office creaked and the voices of the group were heard. Just seconds later they stood behind the other half-elf.

"Are you alright, professor?", Lloyd said and looked over to him. He wanted to pull out his swords, but Raine stopped him. Yuan took a look around. Some benches were destroyed, wax was all over the floor and a few of the candles were still burning.

"I am fine", she said, still looking at the blue haired half-elf. "He just intended to run like a coward."

Again Yuan had to smile.

"However you put it, we will see each other again..."

He turned around and mumbled a teleportation spell, back to the Renegade's base.

"Raine you're hurt", Genis said after Yuan left and looked up to his big sister. She had several scratches, some of them bleeding, but rolled off over the white coat.

"It is nothing. I am okay."

"But Raine..."  
"More importantly he did not get Colette." She looked over to the blonde. "Since he was after her, I consider this a success."

Raine throw the broken candlestick into the broken benches.

"Well...okay...", Lloyd seemed confused and looked around for a few seconds. "Man what happened here? Did you two fight?"

"No he offered me some tea", the professor said ironically and raised an eyebrow. "What do you think happened here?"  
"But you've never been a melee fighter?"

"I learned a few things during our journey." She looked over to Regal. "And I used some of your movements. I hope you do not mind."  
"No. Not really..."

"Talking about movements...", she interrupted him and crossed her arms. "I would like to take part in future combats."

Up to now, the group forced her to stay back so she wouldn't get hurt. After all she was still the healer for them.

"W-What? But why?" Genis blinked in shock and also the rest of the group seemed a bit in shock.

"Since I got this crystal I can feel it enhancing my abilities even further. Just healing and not taking advantage of it would be a waste." Raine lay two fingers on her temple. "Just as I copied a few of Regal's movements, I think I can learn even more from our enemies as well."  
"You can do that?" Lloyd seemed overjoyed. "Wow this is so cool, Professor Sage."

Genis didn't seem to enjoy this as much as the rest of the group did, but held back for the moment. After all this was his sister's decision, not his.

"Well I suggest that we head to the Inn and discuss our further actions there. Also I would like to know what the king said."

The others agreed and they went out of the church. However Zelos stayed there for a few seconds, looked over to the candlestick the half-elf just threw away like a piece of junk. It was badly damaged, had marks and blood all over. She definitely fought with it and he saw Yuan bleeding.

"Zelos? Are you coming?"

Raine stood in the door, looked over to him over her shoulder.

"Yeah. Wait for me, my darling", he said in his happy tone and then followed her. When they were alone again, he finally needed to ask her. Not only about this fight with Yuan, also he had to ask her if she was the one who murdered the pope.


	10. Chapter 10

(Yays for chapter 10. Celebration )

Later, back at Zelos' mansion, the group decided to sit down together in order to plan their next steps. Zelos himself, Sheena and Lloyd, in this order, sat on the deep red couch, the chosen starring a little absent out of the window, Presea, Colette and Genis sat on a smaller one right beside it. Regal claimed the wing chair and Raine was standing beside the chair and leaned against it while her arms were crossed in front of her chest. Her upper arm was bandaged because she had a deeper cut there. Lloyd scratched his head as he thought as hard as he could.

"So what are we gonna do once our Rheairds are repaired? We still have no clue about where Aska is and without him Luna won't fight us. And we still got to find the pope's murderer."

The king allowed them to travel freely throughout Tethe'alla, mostly because no one would dare to oppose the chosen now. Even though they tried to hide it, the news about the pope's murder quickly spread and also the rumor about the murderer, furthermore the murderess, being Spiritua.

Sheena sighed a little. "Well we can't ask at the research academy. They don't know a thing about Sylverant's summon spirits."

While the others were talking, Genis got up from his place, got to his sister and hugged her. Since he wasn't the tallest, he just reached up to her waist. Raine looked down at him and blinked a little at this gesture.

"What is it, Genis?", she asked silently while she knelt down to face him. Regal was still caught in the discussion, so he didn't really notice the two half-elves at his side. Genis stayed silent and took a short look over to his friends. He didn't want to talk about it in front of the others, but he also didn't want to ask her to go outside with him. His sister followed his glance, then back to him. Softly she ran her gloved hand through his hair and got up.

"Come on", she told him and he took the hand she offered him. She looked over to Regal. "We will go to the bedroom for a second." The blue haired human nodded a little and the two siblings went up the stairs.

Genis went ahead as they entered the gigantic bedroom. It contained two large beds, but it was obvious that it was 'only' a guestroom. However it had it's own bathroom connected as well as a small table in front of the window. The little half-elf climbed on one of the beds and sat down on the edge, looked up as he heard the door being shut. For a few seconds Raine just stood there, looking at him with her hand still on the doorknob. He couldn't stand her glance for too long. It was like he got into trouble, but she didn't tell him what it was yet. Genis just heard her shoes on the wooden floor as she walked over, her clothes rustling as she knelt down in front of him and looking up to him. However as much as he tried to avoid to look into her eyes, she just lay her hand on his cheek to make him look at her again.

"What is troubling your mind?"

Genis felt his eyes filling with tears.  
"Raine why... why did you fight again?"

His sister tilted her head a little, confusion written in her face. She removed her hand from his cheek and lay both her hands on both sides beside him on the bed. Still she stayed quiet. Didn't she know what he was talking about? But it always has been so important to her. To him as well.

"Why did you fight again?", he repeated, his voice cracking a little. "You promised you would never ever do it again."

"I..." Raine closed her eyes for a second, held her head and leaned back a little. He stayed quiet for her to answer. "There is always a time promises have to be broken. For the sake of others."

The tears started to ran down Genis' face and he grabbed his sisters shoulders, sliding on her lap in the process.  
"But you promised! You promised back when we got to Iselia the first time! You said you wouldn't hurt people any more! No matter what happened or who it is."

He couldn't tell what she was thinking right now. Her eyes were so cold, still glowing from the mana that was flowing through her body. It was like this was not his sister any more, just someone who was using her appearance. The little boy couldn't stand it any more, began to cry and to press his head against her shoulder while he grabbed the smooth white fabric of her coat. She lay one hand on his back.

Not hurting anyone again, yes? No matter what? Something in the back of her mind whispered, saying he was telling the truth, but there was no way she could keep this promise. There was still the traitors, and traitors had to be eliminated. No matter what. But why did it matter to him so much? She only knew what Mithos told her, why she spent so much time with this child. All these years ago she was sent to Sylverant in order to protect the chosen of Regeneration and in order to settle in Iselia, where the chosen received their Oracle, she took over the role of big sister for a little half-elf. But did she get not there right away? There was just a black hole...

"Hush, Genis", she said, pulled him back a little and brushed away a few of the tears. Genis sat down on the floor so he could lean again the bed. "Calm down first."

"Sis why?"

"Because there are things that need to be done. We need to protect the cho... we need to protect Colette. That is why..."

"But you didn't need to hurt him! There was blood everywhere and you're hurt, too! You could have been killed! You said you wanted to save lives and not..."

"...not to wipe them out..."

_To save the ones I love._

A sudden pain made her fall over and she held her head. Like a very piercing sound in her ears, while she could hear Genis crying out her name in shock. It disappeared as sudden as it came.

"Raine? Are you alright?" His sister slowly pushed herself up again after it seemed that she was in pain for a few seconds. She still breathed heavily and she was rather pale. "What is it?"

"I'm fine... it's..." She took a breath, stopped for a few seconds. "It is nothing...", she said silently, but Genis could see, that she had problems holding herself up, so he jumped up, but he was held back just as he wanted to run for the door. "I said no. I feel better."

"But..."

"No, Genis!"

Genis fell silent again and Raine slowly got up, released her grip around his arm and brushed aside a bit of her hair in front of her eyes. "Let us go downstairs again."  
"And you're really alright?"  
"I am fine."

He still looked up to her, hugged her and held her tightly.

"Raine? Do you really want to fight?"  
"I need to. In order to save so many more."

"What if something happens during the fight?"

"It will not. Trust me." She pet his head. "You do not need to worry. I just need some fresh air."

Genis rubbed his eyes to get rid of the tears left in his eyes and his cheeks. She still stroke his hair. "You should go to sleep..."

The little silver-haired boy looked up, still feeling that his eyes were red and tired from crying.

"I'm not tired."  
"But exhausted. You will be tired tomorrow if you stay up for too long."

The little one looked down his feet, nodded a little then.  
"Okay. Will you stay until I'm asleep?"

"If you want me to."

The little half-elf got rid of his shoes, just left them on the floor in one of the corners before he slipped out of his jacket and left it on the chair and climbed in one of the beds. He sank a bit into the soft sheets even though he was a lightweight, let his head fall in the pillow. Raine sat down on the bed and pulled the sheet over the small body. For a second Genis imagined that they both were still in Iselia, that nothing of this ever happened so they could life happily, that he could just play with his friends. He closed his eyes and enjoyed his sisters hand carefully petting his hair as he felt exhaustion taking over and his mind slowly drifting away.  
"I love you, sis", he mumbled softly before falling asleep fully.

Sister. How... odd. This felt so familiar. Yet it was wrong, was it not? Mithos was her only true brother. She... had to get back to him. Quickly, before she got even more confused. Raine felt her headache staring again and she silently got up, left the room almost without any noises so the little half-elf could sleep. Instantly she heard the group downstairs, talking and giggling a little. First she was about to head down, but something, more like someone pulled her back. She looked around and she saw the soft silhouettes of the chosen of Tethe'alla. His hair was glowing softly because the moonlight shimmering through the window and the light from downstairs illuminated only part of his face. However she could not tell what he was thinking right now. His expression was so unreadable for her right now, but it was something between hate, frustration and sadness. Unusual for the oh so happy chosen.

"We need to talk", he said in a low, cold voice.

"What is it?", she asked and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You do not sound very well."  
"Just come on, okay?"

Quickly she glanced over to the stairs, then the door she just went through. No difference in the noises, so no one seemed to noticed that Zelos was here with her. She then nodded over to him and followed the redhead in one of the rooms, the master-bedroom, Zelos' personal sanctuary. It was still dark, but since her angel-senses were much stronger than human ones, she did not care for the darkness. The pale moonlight was enough for her to see everything perfectly. The chosen turned on the light and she squeezed her eyes shut for a few seconds.

"So. What do you want to talk about?"

"You killed the pope, right?"

He turned around to her and he did not look very pleased.

Zelos was outraged. He followed Genis and Raine, waited and listened in front of the door. Most of all, he heard them talking about this promise the silver-haired half-elf gave her little brother. And no matter what she was going through, never ever would she break a promise she gave him. Never.

"What makes you say that?"

"Don't make a fool out of me, Raine. I can tell, that you are not the one you were before. You are so different and it pains me to see how you've changed. What the hell did Mithos do to you?"

"Zelos calm down." She walked over to him, let her hand rest on his cheek. "You just overcompensate."

The redhead turned away. He couldn't shout at her and watching her the same time, so he walked over to the window.

"I don't overcompensate on anything, Raine. You're behaving so different and I... I feel you're much further away than before." He heard the noise of clothes moving, but this surely was just her moving through the room. "Back in Sybak we said we will start over, but I feel that our relationship just got worse. You turn your back on me so often..."  
"You are doing the same now, do you not?"  
"That's not what I..." He turned around, saw how she was about to take off her second glove. "What are you doing?" The white coat was already put on the table, perfectly folded, one glove beside it and the other joined just seconds after that. The female just hat a tight shirt under that. A black one with white stripes on the sides. How did it come that he never saw that before? Well other than the fact, that she never took the coat off while someone was around.

"Reminding you how close the two of us really are", she whispered softly and walked over to him like a cat, ready to rip apart its prey. Her smile scared him, made him walk back a little. "I promised, did I not?"

"But... but that's..."

"You are rejecting me? I thought you trust me."

Somehow she managed to throw his mind completely into chaos. Of course he trusted her, but she was so different from what he was used to. He had no explanation for all of this. When she was standing in front of him he looked down to his feet. Still, he had his doubts... Raine forced him to look into her cold, bright blue eyes by putting her hand on his chin.

"So? Do you trust me, Zelos?"

"We're on the same side..."

"Than what are you waiting for?"

Zelos hesitated, hold her by her wrist, pulling her hand away from his chin. No he didn't want to trust her, but he promised to be on her side and he also didn't want to tell her that, so he just leaned down, gently kissed her lips while pulling her into his arms. Raine seemed to be fine with that, also did not resist as he pushed his hand under her shirt.

[…]

"And you are absolutely sure about that?", the brown haired seraph asked his blue haired friend. Kratos was still in the Renegade's base healing his wounds. Also he asked for Yuan's help, even though he was considered an enemy for Cruxis. Kratos had more important things to be concerned about than keeping his loyalty to Mithos, however it didn't seem that his former friend cared much about his alliance.

"No doubt about it. That is not Raine." Yuan crossed his arms, turned to Kratos and looked at him. "I can not really say how it happened, but I bet Pronyma had something to do with it."

"I feared that..." The brown haired man closed his eyes, leaned back again in his bed. Most of his clothes were still beside the bed on a chair, his upper body wrapped in bandages. The major part of his wounds were already healed, as well as his cracked bones, but Yuan insisted that Kratos stayed in bed for at least two days more.

"Do you have a plan?"

Kratos shook his head.  
"No. We don't even know what exactly happened. How are we supposed to work against it?"

"Then I suggest we should talk to Zelos."

Confused he looked over to Yuan.  
"Zelos? Why him?"

Yuan just smiled.

"You will see, my friend. You will see..."

[…]

Raine lay on her front side, still naked and heavily breathing. Her skin tickled and was still oversensitive. A rare thing for an angel to feel, but this would not last for long. The intense emotions during this actions... not even the Cruxis-crystal could oppress this. She moaned a little as she felt Zelos' breath on her back, rushing over it like flames and turning her skin on fire. She shook a little as he placed a kiss between her shoulders and leaned over her. Softly he let his hands run down her arms. But as much as she enjoyed this, they could not stay in the bed forever. As soon as Zelos fell asleep, it was time for her to go. If she stayed longer it was just a matter of time until the others found out what she did and who she was working for.

The redhead lay his forehead on her back, closed his eyes and took a deep breath of her smell. She shivered softly under his touch, something he felt before. For a second it felt like she was like she was back in Sybak.

"Raine?", he asked softly and she turned her head to him. Zelos stroke her hair, revealed one of her pointy ears. He looked into her eyes, more like her eye.

"Hm? What is it?"

She turned on her back and for a second he looked down to her Cruxis-crystal, let his hand run over it. It was terribly cold and it felt like a knife running over his fingers. Raine grabbed his wrist and pulled it away.

"Do not do that", she said in a slightly angry voice, sighed thereafter. "I should not stay."

"Why?"  
"The others will start to wonder. Also I want to do some work this night."

She sat up and stood up while Zelos was still watching her. He got up before she had the chance to get to her clothes, wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her close. He didn't want her to go.

"I won't let you."  
"Zelos do not be foolish."  
"I'm not. You're the one acting weird. I try to get into your mind, but you block me. I thought..."  
"You do not want to know what is in my mind. Do not pretend you care."

"But I do care! I just want to know what the hell is wrong with you!"

He held her closer. Now that he was standing again, he felt the blood running down his back. Raine clawed him a lot and his wounds were deep enough to leak blood. Pain ran through his body, but not only because of his back.

"Nothing is wrong with me."

"Of course it is. I just don't know what..."

She turned around, looked up to him. Softly she let her hand ran over his cheek and he almost felt like crying. Why was she so different?

"Maybe you just need some sleep. You start seeing things."  
"I'm not..."  
"Zelos. Please. I am sure you feel better tomorrow."

He stayed silent for a few seconds.

"Don't do anything you might regret..." Zelos sighed. "What are you going to do now?"

"Training. I want to test out what I can do."

Slowly Raine got dressed and Zelos sat on the bed, watching her closely. His body still hurt and he could smell the blood on his back. He also saw a bit of it on her fingertips, but she didn't seem to care. Just before she went for the door he stopped her again.  
"You never answered my question."

She turned around, blinked a little.

"What question?"  
"Did you kill the pope? Yes or no?"

"Nothing will change, no matter what I say."  
"So you did."  
"What makes you think that?"

"The king said it was an angel, or at least someone with shining wings. Colette can't kill anyone. She's far too good for that. I'm not so sure about you though."

"So you blame me for everything just because I did not tell you that I still have my angel-powers?"

"I didn't say that!"  
"Then stop blaming me without proof. It could have been you, too. Just be glad that he is gone. He did threaten you after all."

"Well..."  
"Goodnight, Zelos."  
She turned her back on him, left the room and closed the door behind her. Zelos just stared after her, bit his bottom lip. She had a point. He couldn't tell for sure if it was her fault. Silently he got up again and got dressed. There was only one person he could think about asking what was going on.

For a few seconds Raine was standing in front of the door, heard the chosen getting up inside and the window being opened a short while later. So he started to make investigations. She headed downstairs where only Lloyd and Regal sat in front of each other, talking and planning. Presea fell asleep on the couch, the blonde chosen was nowhere to be seen.

"Professor", Lloyd said as he saw her coming down the stairs. "Where's Genis?"  
"He put him to sleep. He is very exhausted."

Regal got up and looked over to her.  
"Raine I have a request if I may." She watched him, nodded a little. "You said earlier that you copied some of my movements. If you are not too tired, I would like to test it out."  
"Yeah I want to see that, too." Lloyd seemed to be exited. "Your angel-powers are different than Colette's, aren't they?"  
"...It seems they are."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

The three went outside to the back of the house. The big garden was perfect for practicing. However, Raine did not intend to fight with everything she knew, most of all because of how Yuan behaved. Maybe she did not reach her full potential now? She stayed on her spot for a while just after she left the door behind her, looked at her hand and let the mana-rings appear without thinking for a second. Regal and Lloyd went ahead a few steps, but quickly noticed her staying behind and turned around.

"Hey professor, what's this?", Lloyd asked and quickly walked over to her, curiously looking at the rings. Raine jumped a little and let the rings disappear.

"Nothing. Just something I am experimenting around with."  
"Experimenting?" Regal walked over to them. "What do you mean?"

"The rings are made of my body's mana. I wonder in how far I am able to use them..."

"As replacement for a weapon?"  
"That is the idea behind it."

She walked passed the two men, let the rings appear again and turned around.

"So. What did you plan for this training?"

Regal fixed his weapon on his legs, walked in front of her.

"Just defend yourself."

A few kilometers away, Zelos passed the outer walls of the city, looked around for a certain half-elf.

"Pronyma! I know you're here."

He looked around, tried to find any clues of the grand cardinal, but easier said than done. Pronyma had the ability to almost completely disappear in the shadows, mainly because the shadows and the darkness were her element of choice. Zelos walked further in the woods around Meltokio, still looking around. He felt, that Pronyma was watching him, but he couldn't tell from where. At some point where he could make sure he wasn't watched, he spread his wings to illuminate his surroundings in a soft, orange light. Almost instantly he saw the really female silhouette of the grand cardinal. He smiled at her.

"I knew you are watching me."

Pronyma walked out of the shadows, crossed her arms and smiled a little.  
"What makes you think I am watching you?"

"Why are you after Raine?"

"I don't think this concerns you."  
"I should be concerned if you are watching my girlfriend."  
"Girlfriend? Don't make me laugh. Lord Yggdrasil will punish you if he finds out how close you see yourself to her."

His leg shook as the cold metal of his weapon hit the mana-rings around her wrist. Regal didn't knew that the professor could be so quick and she didn't lie when she said that she copied some of his moves. Lloyd watched from a safe distance, but even he could tell that it was not easy to stand up against the empowered half-elf. He jumped back a bit, spun around to gain some speed for his next kick, just to see that she equaled his move and her shin crashing against the metal of his weapon. This... should have hurt. But she did not look like that. Instead she kept up the speed, forced his feet on the ground and lay one hand on his chest. A sudden pain rushed through his body and he flew back against a tree, fell on the ground while moaning in pain.

"Regal!", Lloyd cried out and ran over to him. Raine joined him, however she wasn't in such a rush. "Are you hurt?"

"No... I'm fine."

The swordsman helped him up and Regal looked over to the half-elf. She crossed her arms and tilted her head a little. The mana-rings already disappeared, but the feeling of mana was still in the air.

"I have to admit, that crystal holds intimidating powers. I hope you know that."  
"I will take it as a compliment. Lloyd? I would like to try something, but I need you to use your swords for this. It is time you get a formidable opponent."

"You want to fight me?"  
"Do not worry. I will take it easy on you."

"What do you want from me, Zelos? Make it quick."

Zelos still stood in the same spot, but already pulled back his wings. He wanted to avoid a fight at all costs, however he felt deep hatred for this woman. Not only because he took Raine from him, at least the Raine he admired so much before she changed in such a drastic way, but also because she was a wicked witch. Still he had to lick her feet. With just one word she could not only destroy him, but his friends as well. After all he was still on Mithos' side in her eyes.

"I just want to know what's up with Raine. She's acting different and if she stays like that she'll blow my cover."  
Pronyma smiled a little. This devilishly, sickening smile he hated so much.

"Since you two are so close together I thought she told you."  
"I suppose she skipped that part?"  
"Well it's not like it has to concern you now."

"Why is that?"

Raine and the human, Kratos' son, stood in front of each other. Lloyd already drew his weapons and waited for his teacher to be ready. Only the mana-rings around her right wrist already appeared and she looked at them, seemed to concentrate. She wondered why Yuan pulled back as he noticed them. Maybe she could do more with them than just to block other people's weapons? Maybe if she focused enough...

One of the rings fluently slid over her hand, floated on the high of her fingertips and her hand twitched a little as she imagined how the ring would transform and become something different. And it did. The ring split up, became a soft shining ball for a second before gaining a new form like a blade, but without a handle. Like bright blue, slightly glowing glass it still floated a few inches away from her fingers, but mimicked the movement as she moved her hand on the side. It was much more exhausting to keep them it in this form, but it was a first step.

"What are you waiting for Lloyd? I am waiting."

The brown-head nodded ran towards her and started a combo on her. For Raine, this was not really training, but studying. She stepped back, dodged the slash of his sword. However the second slash, which she wanted to block with the mana-blade, went through the the blade and hit the side of her arm. Slightly in shock she jumped back and let her finger ran over the wound, watched the blood dripping out of it before she watched the mana-blade again. How could this be? Maybe the mana was not strong enough to block solid material. After all she usually used both of the rings to block and the second one was still on her wrist.

"Professor are you alright?"

"I am just experimenting."

For a few seconds she closed her eyes and also the second ring slid over her hand, merged with the mana-blade. It glowed more intense and in a more solid blue.

"Let us try this."

Raine jumped towards Lloyd and this time the two blades clashed together. A few sparks of mana flew through the air.

"So... What happens now?", Zelos asked. Meanwhile he put himself on a large boulder, leaned on his hands. So Raine was on Mithos' side... This hit him pretty hard, well not as hard as it should be, but it was still a shock.

"Lady Raine will return tonight, just as requested by Lord Yggdrasil."  
The chosen raised an eyebrow. "'Lady' Raine? So she made you her pet? How cute."

"Be careful, chosen one. You should be glad that at least she tries to protect the system."

"What system?"  
"The system of world regeneration."  
"So she did kill the pope."

"He did threaten you, the chosen. And since you are the last of your bloodline, the system could have been in danger."

Zelos growled a bit, turned his hand into a fist. He couldn't tell if this was on purpose, but he felt insulted. Seles was still his sister and part of his bloodline.

"I... see", he said through his teeth.

"And what about you? Lady Raine would like to know which path you will take."

Blades still dancing through the air, one of them glowing softly and dipping the surroundings in a soft, blue light until both of them jumped back. Raine's right side glow slightly as she looked over to Lloyd, who was breathing heavily.  
"I suppose this should be all for today."

The mana disappeared and a few sparks flew around, but vanished soon after. Lloyd smirked as he put away his swords.  
"Wow you're really strong professor. Sorry about the wound."  
"The what?" She looked at her arm. "Oh this. This is nothing." A quick glance to Regal, then into the sky. "Would you accompany him inside? I would like to study the stars some more."

She just heard him agree and both men walking inside as she stared into the nightsky. Maybe if they looked up they would have noticed that there were no stars this night, just thick clouds. Stupid humans. When the angel heard the door, she looked over to the door until she could not hear any more footsteps before heading for the mansion's walls.

Back at the tower of salvation, Mithos, in his adult form, was running up and down in front of his throne. His sister wanted to return within the next few hours, but he was not prepared for anything of this. Of course he longed for his sister's presence, but it concerned him that Kratos was still nowhere to be found. Was he still after Raine or was he helping Lloyd again? Whatever. Raine still seemed to be fine since he ordered Pronyma to watch after her. She reported to him on a steady basis and his sister seemed to do fine.

"Lord Yggdrasil", an angel entered the room.

"What?", the leader hissed and the angel quickly fell on his knees.

"Grand cardinal Forcystus would like to talk to you."

"What does he want? I am busy."

"He wanted to tell you personally."

"Connect him to me."  
Every time Forcystus behaved like this it was usually important. The hero of the half-elves was loyal, but he tended to overreact sometimes, just like when he burned down Iselia. Yggdrasil clearly ordered to punish the people for violating the contract he permitted, but not to completely destroy the village. After all it was the village of the chosen. Keeping up the system was everything that mattered now. Keeping it up to ensure his sister was save.

The green-haired half-elf appeared on the screen and Yggdrasil crossed his arms, let himself fall in the soft chair.

"Speak. I will listen."

"Mylord." The grand cardinal bowed a little. "One of Lady Pronyma's people got here a short while ago with a massage from Lady Raine."

"Go on."

"He reported, that Yuan attacked her in the church in Meltokio and asked me to find out where the Renegade's base is located. I figured I ask for your permission first, Lord Yggdrasil."

Yuan? He attacked... he DARED to attack his precious sister? The slim fingers dug into the chair.

"Why did she contact you?"

"I don't know, Mylord..."

"Does anyone else know of this?"  
"No. No one except Lady Raine, Pronyma, the messenger and myself."

"Expose of the one who delivered the massage. No one must know about this. I will talk to her myself."

"As you wish."

He bowed again before the screen went black. Yggdrasil lay one hand on his chin. Why didn't she tell him about this? He knew that Yuan was betraying him, but this was unforgivable. Maybe he needed to teach Yuan a small lesson. Him and this pathetic excuse of a chosen if he decided to choose the wrong side.

The silver-haired angel walked fluently over the rooftops to the direction of the outer city walls. It was dark, too dark for the humans to see and since she choose to head over the slum's rooftops, there were no lights. Just a few footsteps and the clinging of armor broke the silence that lay over Meltokio. A cry caught her attention and she turned a little, tried to find out where it came from.

"Lady Raine?" Pronyma's voice distracted her and she turned to face her. "Are you ready? Lord Yggdrasil is awaiting you."

"Just a second."

She just saw the source of the cry. It was a little boy, dragged by an older woman, both running from a bunch of guards.

"Sis!", the little one cried out. Raine growled a little. For some reason this really... bothered her.

"Lady Raine?" She jumped a little, watched over to Pronyma. "May we leave?"

"...Yes. Let's go...", she said in a slight monotone voice.

"We need to head outside the city walls. Then with your permission I would like to use one of my teleportation-spells."

Raine still seemed a little absent.

"Yes... whatever. Just... just get me out of here."

"Are you alright, Mylady?"

"I'm fine. It's nothing... Just a headache."

Pronyma just nodded, went ahead, followed by the silver-haired half-elf.


	11. Chapter 11

"_In the name of our goddess", the man on top of the stairs shouted. "I, as the king of Tethe'alla will expose of this fake chosen!"_

"_That's not true!"  
A young boy, forced on his knees by some soldiers, struggled to stand up, but was forced down with a blow on the back of his head. He gasped in pain, shaking in contemplation of his certain death._

"_Silence faker", the king shouted again. A woman in the back of the crowd tried to force her way to the front, however it was impossible to break through. Deciding not to raise too much attention she turned around, choosing the other road above the rooftops. Once there, there was no more reason to hide under the bright white cloak whose hood covered her head and hid her face._

"_I'm not a faker! This IS my crystal!", the boy tried to argue again. His voice shook just as much as his body._

"_And it is indeed false. You claimed the title of chosen, but you are not of pure blood!"_

_The king slowly walked his way down to the boy, his sword in his hands._

"_I shall grand you some last words before I will perform justice on your soul."_

_The boy looked up to the king in silence, then lowered his head._

"_No last words? Fine then." His voice lowered down, the king faced the guards. "Turn him around."_

_As soon as the boy was turned to face the crowd, he looked over to some protesting people. The rest was just shouting at him. "Faker" they called him. "cadger" and "imposter". It made tears running down his face. The people he loved so much were defying him, hating him. He looked up into the heavens, closed his eyes._

"_Holy Martel", he shouted. "Please forgive them. They've done nothing wrong. Please help me save this world!"_

_The expected hit never came. Instead the crowd went quiet and the boy heard the king gasp behind him. The guards who held him down the whole time backed away, their faces changed between anger and fear. He quickly turned around and saw a white figure holding the king's hand with the sword back. Moreover, this person had some blue, shining wings on its back. The kings expression seemed slipped._

"_Who... who are you?"_

_Instead of answering, the angel threw the king against one of the guards with ease and the sword fell to her feet in the process. Then, she turned to face the boy, pulled him on his feet and removed the hood._

"_Dearest Chosen of Tethe'alla", she began, her voice loud and clear. "We of Cruxis bless you. I was sent to guard the holy bloodline. My name is Spiritua."_

_The boy was still unable to talk, but the king already got up and the angel turned to face him._

"_But he is..."  
"No one", Spiritua interrupted. "is allowed to threaten the Chosen. There is no excuse for such a crime." While she walked up to the king, her hand began to glow, the glow grew bigger until it formed a blade. Some of the shine was dancing around the blade as if it was alive. "Traitors will be eliminated..."_

_Pronyma_ watched the other woman closely as they stood inside the elevator which lead through the tower of salvation to Welgaia. Why was her beloved Lord just so into her? She couldn't understand. That wasn't the woman he was after a few weeks ago. This was someone different, just an empty shell of her former self. Pronyma had watched as Lord Yggdrasill told her stories about their past and she believed in all of them up until now. However, the grand cardinal noticed that she took over a lot of her Lord's character traits. Right now, she had her eyes closed and seemed lost in thoughts.

"Milady?" No answer. "Lady Raine!" The elevator already stopped, but the half-elf didn't seem to notice. At least not until both of them heard an oh so familiar voice.  
"Sister!" Lord Yggdrasill walked up to them and Raine looked up, smiled a bit. Pronyma decided not to talk and keep her head down while she was around her beloved Lord.

"Mithos. I am sorry it took me so long. I was..."

The blonde angel interrupted her by pulling her close and hugging her. He nearly knocked the breath out of her while doing that.

"Don't EVER go off like that again", he said while resting his head against her shoulder. Mithos was in his older form, but this didn't stop him from caring for his sister. He felt her resting her hands against his neck and slowly stroking his hair afterward. He lowered his voice before he continued talking. "I was worried. Something could have happened to you."

"I returned safely, did I not? There is no need to worry anymore."

Mithos pulled back a little so he could look in her eyes, stayed silent for a few seconds.  
"But why didn't you tell me what happened?"  
"What do you mean? I did..."  
"Yuan attacked you and I didn't know any of this. Why didn't you send anyone?"

"I figured it was not necessary. I did send someone to Forcystus after all."

He looked at her, sighed a little. Actually he was just glad that she was back. Back in one piece that is.

"Until I tell otherwise, you will stay in Vinheim."

Raine didn't seem very pleased with it, but smiled after she stared at him for a long time.

"As you wish, Mithos."

_As_ Zelos entered the house again, the others were already wide awake and seemed to be panicking.

"What happened?", he asked Sheena, who was closest to him and who looked out the window. She looked over to him, slightly pale.

"Zelos! Where the hell were you? Raine is gone again!"

The Chosen stayed quiet, crossed his arms.

"I know. And she won't come back." Almost everyone turned around to Zelos screaming 'What?' while doing so. "Ah come on. Don't look at me like that. Did you actually think she would stay? Don't make me laugh."

Immediately Lloyd was in front of him, pulling him close by gripping his vest.

"If you have anything to do with this, Zelos, then..."  
"Then what? You're going to hit me? Just to let you know, I am NOT responsible, okay!" Letting him go, Lloyd walked back a few steps, but still every one of them stared at him. "She was fooling us the whole time. So there's no reason to be mad at me."

"What the hell are you talking about?", Sheena asked with a raised voiced. "She's our friend! She couldn't..."  
"She killed the pope, she lied to us and she made us look like complete idiots. Also she reported everything we did back to Yggdrasill through Pronyma. The two of them just left town."

Zelos heard how Genis started crying. "I don't believe that! She's my sister! Raine doesn't do stuff like that!"

"You better believe it, twerp."

They all became quiet and just Genis sobs broke the silence here and there. Colette knelt down to Genis, trying to comfort him while she herself had tears in her eyes. The chosen also saw Lloyd clench his fists and forcing back some tears.

"Damn it."

"_So_ tell me", her brother started while they wandered through the hallways of Vinheim. "What happened while you were gone? You barely sent any massages."

Raine had to smile a little. His concern about her flattered her a little. It was really amusing to see how he treasured her like the most precious thing in the world while the woman, Pronyma, who walked a little behind her, tried everything just to get his attention. All she had to do was to smile at Mithos to make him look at her like she was a goddess herself. Maybe he was oversensitive when it came to her, but this made this game more amusing.

"_I_ am truly sorry about that, brother, but there was no way to contact you while I was around these humans." She lay one hand on her chin as she started to think where to start. "Well as you already know, Yuan tried to attack me back in the church in Meltokio. However, I do not think he was quite serious about it."  
"Why is that?"

"He did not fight properly. Also he did behave strangely." She let one of the mana-rings appear around her wrist, watched it closely. "As soon as he saw these, he fled."

"As long as you are save, I don't care. I will punish him for what he did."

_As_ soon as Yuan was found that was. Since he ordered his remaining Grand Cardinals to keep an eye on his beloved sister, he lost track of Yuan and Kratos, but most likely the two of them were somewhere together, plotting against him like they did for such a long time.

"Mithos?" Raine made him jump a bit as she carefully brushed back a few of the long, blonde bangs of his hair. "Do not think too hard and let us just relax a little. You need it as well as I do."

"I guess you're right...", he said. "We could go into the gardens."

She smiled at him and he felt how he instantly felt warmer. That smile washed away every regret he might have had.

"Agreed."

Together they walked down the hallway, Pronyma still following them, until they reached a door deep within the castle. Mithos turned around.

"You have permission to leave", he said to the Grand Cardinal. She bowed a little, clearly not pleased with the situation. What did she expect? A thanks? Foolish woman. However this was not important at that moment. Together with Raine he entered the gardens, a paradise beyond believe. The gigantic room seemed endless and was filled with all kind of old, new, exotic and common plants. Mithos first made this room to save the rare plants from getting extinguished during the wars and the first years after. From time to time he returned to this room with a new plant, mostly flowers, so the room was filled with a heavy scent and the colorful surrounding made this room the most comfortable in all Dherris Kharland. Yet, no one except for a few selected angels and himself were permitted here and the angels only to keep the plants from dying.

"Mithos? I would like to ask you something", Raine suddenly said as they slowly walked between some old trees, down a small alley.

"What is it, dear sister?"

"It is about Zelos. I do not understand his role in your plan."

"He is nothing but a puppet, dearest."  
They sat down between some flowers in the soft grass and Mithos changed into his younger form. After doing so, he lay his head in her lap, watched her as her eyes scanned the garden for every detail. It made him laugh a bit.  
"You don't need to memorize all of this, sister. You are not in enemy territory."

"I know. But this is so beautiful", she answered, smiling softly at him and stroke his hair. With a soft sigh he closed his eyes so he could enjoy everything she gave him. It had been a long time since he was able to feel because the world had made him dull and emotionless throughout the years. But with her at that very moment, he felt happy, even though it was not real. For him, nothing was any more, so he accepted the fake. Just the love he felt for his sister was true and important.

"You always liked this place a lot."  
"I did?"  
"Yes. When we traveled around we always had to stop when you saw some pretty flowers. So I made you this garden. You said you loved the smell."

"I see. Well the scent is truly enjoyable and the garden very beautiful."

"Thank you. Everything for you, sis. I just want to be the best brother." He looked up at her.  
"I could not wish for a better brother", she said and smiled at him. Time and time again he felt the warmth rushing through his body.

Carefully, the half-elf petted her little brother's hair, leaned against the tree and sighed a little. She would be stuck here for some time until Mithos changed his mind, but who was she to argue with him? He maybe was her brother, but at the same time, he was her master and the only one she could trust.

"Raine?", the blonde suddenly said and looked up to her. "What do you think about Lloyd and his companions?"

She looked at him in silence, thought for a second. They were really charming and friendly, but that disgusted her a lot. The only one she kind of felt connected to was the small half-elf, Genis as far as she remembered. However he preferred his human friends over everything else.

"They are just a bunch of dreamers and nobodies. Nothing too threatening. Speaking of nobodies, why did you let Zelos travel with the group? He seems to get some wrong ideas."

"Zelos is nothing but a traitor. He even betrays himself. Maybe we should get rid of him soon."

"Oh my. Why so harsh, brother? Maybe he could proof useful."

He looked at her in surprise. "How is that?"

"Right now, he is nothing but a dog on a leash." She smiled and looked up into the artificial sun. "And I would like to keep him as a pet if you do not mind."

"A... pet? Why? He is just a human!" Mithos got up, looked at her in shock. She expected such a reaction, yet she just smiled over to him.

"There there, Mithos. It is because he is human I would like to keep him. He follows every order I give him. Look at it as... keepsake once we are finished here." Mithos stayed silent. "Well you can think about it. But you would make me really happy."

Saying that, she knew she won. Mithos would never ever deny her any wish she had. Yet he still looked quite angry down into the grass, so she decided to change the subject.

"I remembered something while Pronyma and I were traveling over here."

"What? You do?" The little half-elf looked at her in surprise.

"At least I think I do. It is quite absurd really. I remember being called Spiritua." Mithos chuckled a little. "Why are you laughing?"

"I was just wondering when you would remember. Spiritua was the second name we gave you while you were amongst this pathetic mortals."

"But... why?"

"Spiritua is an old elvish name and means savior. I thought it is quite fitting for your job."

"Leading the people back to the right path and believing in our goddess Martel."

"Yes. I am just glad that we are soon able to stop this pitiful masquerade."

"So what are the next steps?"

"You just stay here and let me do some work myself."

Raine sighed. "You know I do not like being locked up."

"It will not be for long." Ne knelt down beside her, carefully took her hand and smiled at her. "You still have to relearn how to control your mana. I still feel it leaking. As soon you can manage to seal off your mana we can finally judge this fools. Starting with the group of the failed chosen."

_Back_ at the Renegade's base, Kratos finally managed to stand straight again. Due his angelic powers it took him a lot less time to regain his strength than a mere mortal. Since a part of his clothes was burned or ripped thanks to Raine's little outburst at Palmacosta, he asked Yuan to borrow him some clothes. However the only fitting outfit they found was Yuan's old cruxis-uniform since Kratos refused to take one of the Renegade's armor. It was quite similar to Kratos' own uniform, but it had some extra, silver armor pieces with some rubies on them on the shoulders as well as a deep blue cloak. Also the trousers were not separated into two pieces. Instead it was one, deep blue one with bright blue and white stripes on the sides. A brown belt with a silver buckle shaped like angel wings held them into place. The upper part was pretty much the same as his own uniform.

After changing the mercenary entered Yuan's room. The half-elf sat at the table over some documents, Botta by his side. Kratos never understood why Yuan trusted Botta that much, but he was fine with that. With a silent motion, Yuan sent the brown-haired half-elf out the room so they were able to talk in private.

"How do you feel?", the blue haired man asked and leaned back in his chair. Kratos walked over.

"Fine. Were you able to find anything out?"

"It seems it is as we expected. Also Pronyma took her back to the tower of salvation. I suppose Mithos will not let her out again until he turned her over completely. And it pretty much foils every plan we had."  
"What about Zelos?"

"My men were not able to get that slippy bastard. He went back before they could catch up to him. I still wonder why he went outside." Yuan closed his eyes and thought for a second. The mercenary walked over to the window and looked outside into the desert. "What are you going to do now?"

"Someone needs to explain Lloyd and the others what is going on. They may be the only ones who are able to stop the two of them before it ends in a catastrophe again", Kratos said in a lowered voice and looked over to his friend.

"Do you really think you can do it?", Yuan asked after a while, looking straight into the others eyes.

"They will hate me. But it is not the first time I'm the bad guy..."

"That's not what I mean." Kratos raised his eyebrows and looked a bit confused. "I mean are you able to do it? To fight her if necessary?"

The human stayed silent, looked down on his feet.

"If I have to protect this world and my son, I guess I have no choice."

Yuan got up from his chair. "I will accompany you. No one knows her better than I do. Let us just hope you are doing the right thing. And that you are strong enough."

"... I hope so as well."

_The_ remaining members of Lloyd's group were still scattered throughout Zelos' mansion after none of them was able to get some rest after Zelos' sudden confession about Raine. Colette and Presea tried to comfort Genis upstairs who locked himself inside one of the guestrooms. Lloyd was in the garden, hitting his head against the cold wall and cursing silently. Zelos could also hear him crying. Regal went outside on the balcony, but it was easy to tell that he was shocked as well. The red-haired chosen was in the library, sat on a couch and leaned his head against his hand. He stared down on the floor. Finally, he hit a dead end. There was no way to turn back, no way to get Raine back. If he believed in Pronyma's words, she was gone for good and was replaced by Mithos' new sister. And if he went on, not only his own life, also his friend's and more importantly his sister's was in danger, too. He could neither oppose, nor join Cruxis, the Renegades or his friends. It was all his fault and he was overflown by regret, a complete new feeling for him.

Sheena came inside and sat down beside him, silently. For a few minutes which seemed like an eternity, none of them said a word until Sheena finally broke the heavy cloud.

"How do you know she betrayed us?"  
Zelos closed his eyes, sighed a bit. His voice was more monotonous than he intended it to be. "I followed her when she left the mansion. She met Pronyma on one of the rooftops and they talked a while about the pope's murder and that she should return to Mithos."

_Again_, silence fell over them while both of them stared at the bookshelves across the room. Sheena had nothing to answer and nothing to say. Although she did have questions and a lot of them, too. The one she wanted to ask the most she didn't dare to ask. It was just not her style.

"Sheena", Zelos suddenly said and the assassin almost jumped. She looked over to him and her eyes were locked into the deep blue ones of his. "I need you to do me a favor."

"What is it?", she asked, feeling her heart beat up to her throat. Zelos never asked her for anything, so this was a first.

"I... I need you to do something for me. You need to watch and take care of my sister for me."

"Seles? But why? You know she hates me." The black-haired girl blinked. Indeed Seles hated her more than anything else, most likely because she was able to spend more time with Zelos than his little sister was.

"I know. But you know I trust you. And in case something happens to me..."

She interrupted him.

"Woh wait. What are you planning?" Silence. "Zelos? Tell me. It can't be good when you're behaving that way." Silence again. Instead the red-haired chosen got up and walked over to the window.

"I'm going to join Cruxis."

"Wha-..." These words hit her hard and she was unable to form straight sentences for a few seconds and started babbling something senseless. After she forced herself to think straight, easier said than done because her temper was taking over again, she stood up, walked over to him. Just as he turned around to face her, she smacked him hard and Zelos stumbled back a few steps.  
"Are you crazy?", she cried, tears forming in her eyes. She didn't care if she could be heard at that moment. "You can't betray us! Also Mithos will kill you!"

_Zelos_ laughed a little. He expected such a reaction, but he hasn't been prepared for it. He lowered his head, held his red cheek and closed his eyes.

"That's the only thing I can do right? And if I have to fall on my knees and beg for mercy, than fine."

"Why?"

"I guess there's no other choice."  
"That's not what I asked! Why Zelos?"

He could hear her voice break and he didn't dare to look at his old friend.

"As I said. There's no other choice. We're stuck right now. This may be the only way to get Raine back." Sheena didn't answer, so he looked up. He couldn't see her crying and her sobbing just supported his bad feeling even more. Slowly he pulled her into his arms and the oh so proud assassin pressed her head against his chest, lay her hands on his back and gripped him tightly. He felt the pain run through his body once more due to the marks Raine left earlier. It caused him to stiff a little.

"Don't go", he heard the smaller female whisper.

"I need to."

"Why? Why you?"

"Do you expect anyone else to do it?"  
"We can think of something."

"There is no other option."

"B-But..."

"Sheena. I'm thankful for everything you did for me. However..." She looked up at him and he carefully wiped away one tear. "No 'buts' okay? I have to do this."  
Finally, they let go of each other and stared in each others eyes for nearly an eternity.

"...What do you expect me to tell the others?"

Zelos scratched his head and chuckled a little.

"You tell me. You'll think of something."

"And your sister?"

"...Tell her I'm sorry." Sheena just started to speak again, obviously getting angry again, but he showed her to stop. "Please. You know I trust you. You're the best friend I ever had."

Maybe the only one.

He walked past her to the door, ready to leave and maybe never return as he was stopped by her once more.

"You never answered me...", she said loudly, turned around and looked at him. Still he could hear her voice shaking and he knew she was crying. "Why are you doing this?"

"I..." He sighed. "I'm keeping a promise."  
"What promise?"

"The promise I gave Raine back in Sybak."  
"So you..."

"This whole situation is all my fault. I'll get her back and she'll surely explain everything to you. Just wait until then okay?" He turned and gave her a smile.

_Sheena_ could feel her tears running down her cheeks again. She feared something like that happened and she knew somehow. It has been just the way the two always looked at each other. Even if they never touched each other while someone was around, it had always been these hidden glances that she saw in the corner of her eye. Also that smile of his. That smile that was only meant for someone special. Once he looked at her this way, but she had been too blind at this time to realize it back then. The assassin still couldn't understand why he was doing this to himself and to her, but there was no way she could stop him from running after the half-elf. Raine being a half-elf made the whole situation even more confusing. Zelos was famous for disliking half-elves, and now...

The only thing she was able to do was to let him go, although it pained her. It would surely leave an invisible scar.

_In_ Vinheim, Yggdrasill and Raine had already left the gardens and went back into the main hall where the great seed was located. Both of them knew they had no time to waste if they wanted to achieve their goals. More like Mithos' goal that was, yet Raine was supporting every part of it. After all it was not like she had anything better to do anyway. Their life was eternal and all that was left to do was to somehow amuse themselves until the end of days. So why not settle some unfinished business and get a little revenge while doing so? Also there was still a lesson to be taught to both the humans and elves alike.

"So what are we going to do now?", the silver-haired angel asked while she sat down on the armrest of Mithos' throne, her favorite spot after what her brother told her. However it was pretty uncomfortable, but she was close to her brother and it was the best place to overlook their minions, there was no other word for that pathetic creatures that came in with their heads down, when they were about to bore them with senseless statistics and information. Speaking of minions, Pronyma was still missing after Mithos told her to leave them before the gardens.

"We, my dear sister, are going to wait some more. Let us just enjoy how Lloyd and his little group of unworthy fools will react once they find out you are back here with me. Also I still need to wait for Forcystus to report back."

"On what matter?"

"You know why."

He leaned his head against her shoulder and Raine softly stroke the shining blonde hair.

"And what are we going to do about Yuan and the Renegades? They will never ever surrender."

"I know. They will die with the worlds as soon as we leave here. And for Yuan and Kratos... we will just kill them the next time they show their faces."

The woman sighed softly. She expected as much. Slowly she got up and looked over to her brother and smiled softly.  
"Well as long as we wait, I will go and take a shower." She saw the confused look on her brothers face and laughed softly. "Just because I can not feel does not mean I do not enjoy a hot bath."

He smiled at her.

"Alright. I will send the angels after you if I need you."

_Finally_ in the bathtub, Raine sighed a little as she let herself sink into the hot water up to her shoulders. She could not feel hot or cold, but she could feel the thick steam, with a little help of some herbs and flowers, clear her mind. Because of said herbs, the water was not clear. Instead it had a soft green color, underlined by the strict white porcelain of the bathroom. It was Raine's private bathroom, but this made it even more gigantic. She had a whole part of the east wing of the castle for herself, containing a bedroom, a bathroom and two separated living rooms on the upper floor and the library she shared with the high members of Cruxis just below it. The library itself already took three floors in order to contain all the ancient scripts, forbidden books, researching and teachings of the church of Martel in it. The 'newer' books, containing novels, fantasy books, rhymes and a lot of books you just read in order to let time past quicker, were located in the west-wing of the castle, while both libraries were connected through a small passageway directly above the room before the throne room. Both wings of the castle directly mirrored each other, so it was not surprising that Mithos' private rooms were above the library in the west wing.

Slowly the silver-haired angel let her slim fingers run through the water, enjoying the soft sound it made. Fascinating how something so simple as water was able to wash off the stress she had earlier and relax her muscles. She pushed her index finger and her thumb together, still fascinated by how the herbs and the water made her skin soft and slick when she noticed a small white line just below the outer side of her thumb. It was still just barely noticeable on her reddened skin, but she noticed it immediately. After examining it more closely, she concluded that it was indeed a thin scar, but not thicker as a hair. On normal circumstances, she would have never noticed it. The scar went from the side of her thumb all the way down to her wrist, however it was surely not a cut. More like the remaining of a burn. Now how did she get that? Not that she was angry about it or that she should have cared, but it bothered her for some reason. It made her feel uncomfortable just seeing this. Maybe she would ask Mithos about it as soon as she found the time to do so.

A knock on the door nearly made her jump out of the water.

"Lady Raine?" Pronyma. "Lord Yggdrasill sends me. He..."  
"Come in when talking to me", Raine ordered and the Grand Cardinal entered the steam-filled room. She blushed as soon as she noticed that the other half-elf was still sitting naked in the bathtub. Seeing her act like she never saw a female body before was quite amusing to her. "What is it?"

"L-Lord Yggdrasill requests you in the hall of the great seed."  
"Did he say why?"

"I suppose it's about the chosen..."  
"Sylverant's chosen? What about her?"  
"No. Not her. Tethe'alla's. He arrived a few minutes ago at the tower and was captured immediately."

"So that is why you were gone earlier."  
"Yes, Mylady."

"Fine. I will be there in a minute." Raine took one of the white towels as she got up and wrapped it around her body. While doing so she noticed Pronyma turning around. "Oh and Pronyma. I prefer my pet being unharmed. Tell my brother I will be very displeased if I find a scratch on him."

"As you wish."

Pronyma went out the room and the silver-haired half-elf growled a little. What was Zelos doing? She did not expect him this early. Well that would not stop her from taking advantage of it. Thinking of her new pet made her smile.


End file.
